Laws of Life
by rubberducky3399
Summary: Sequel to coming or going?. Chapter 25 up. Last one...maybe. Come and read the fantastic works of the magical Ducky who has only supplied you with entertainment for the past 6 months!
1. The Life of a Life

YAY! Ducky is back in action! Accompanied by none other than her laptop and her brain! It is so great to be writing again! It is such a great way to express myself! And now with that mushy line out of the way, i present you with the sequel to "Coming or Going?". The first part is just an introduction but i have embedded some flashbacks here and there. Mostly here though. Ok, so this takes place 3 months after the first story ended. I am deeply sorry to all of you who were saying to yourselves: "maybe Ducky had them get married, or have ten more kids, and live happily ever after!" but happy ending are really not that fun to write unless they are going to go down hill, in which case they are not endings; they are happy middles. And i am sorry to all of you who are disappointed at this point, but take heart; my story goes up and down hill. I mean what kind of writer would I be if I just gave you a very boring story? A very bad one, that's what kind.

I must inform you that I have just had two finals today, which I failed if you were wondering. I have two tomorrow and you guys reading and then reviewing makes me happy. So! On with the story!

**Disclaimer: I have inherited nothing since the last story so back off! **

A/N: _Italics are flashbacks._

**Chapter 1: The Life of a Life**

It had been a few months now since Luke had returned. It had been odd for him to have a son at first. He had never gotten to see that first laugh, that first smile, that first grasping of someone's hand. He had come into Jakes life at a point where Jake had already done so many things, but yet nothing at all. He still couldn't walk, talk, draw, or make his first "mud pie" and try to feed it to both Mommy and Daddy.

Life had always been funny like this. The lives of Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes were outside the laws of life. Life had always been fair to both of them but only to the extent at which they deserved.

Lorelai had been raised in a horrible household but in return, life had given her a chance and the courage to leave it. She had gotten pregnant at such a young age that she had to give up the future she had planned for herself. In return for that sacrifice, life had given her Rory. Life had also decided that because of the difficulties Lorelai would face as a single mother with nothing but a suitcase full of clothes, that life would land her in the wonderful town of Stars Hallow. It would then put her through many relationships that she would never last in. As a reward; life gave her Luke—her shoulder to cry on. Along with that came with her more intimate relationship with him. And eventually, to even the scale, life took him away. But it left her with an angel. A gift more valuable than tears or precious memories; life gave her Jake. Jake had been her reason to keep going, but yet this gift still did not heal the pain from Luke's absence. The next move was the one to keep the scale equal; life gave her Luke back. Life didn't know if she was ready for him back, or if she even deserved him, but it had given her the opportunity. She had taken that opportunity and thrown it away. She then was faced with the same offer and again turned it down. The third time she not only rejected it but had renounced it and pushed it so far that only a miracle could save the happy ending. Sookie. Sookie had intervened and become that miracle. Sookie had always been the one to show up when needed and she never let her best friend down. She saved Luke and Lorelai's opportunity to be together. Sookie had shoved it in life's face and told it to reconsider. She had convinced life to show Luke the truth within himself and within Lorelai's heart.

Luke had started life out in a different side of the scale. Luke had been born into a family where nothing you did was a disappointment, wrong yes, but he was always taught to learn from those experiences. He had lived a happy life until his mother had died. Life had decided to test to see what Luke was made of. He was obviously made of something more than just flesh and bone because he kept going. And then when his sister got pregnant. Luke and his father were the ones to pick up the slack and to help Liz along in life, until she moved out of course. -1 on the scale of life and dropping fast. His father. His father was the next to go. Luke had lost his mother at an early age and then Liz about 7 years later, but he had never thought his father, the one person he could always count on to be there, would leave him. He had left one early February morning. The cancer had come back and was now past the stage that it could be stopped from spreading. -2. Life then looked back and saw that Luke was in need of some positive numbers now. It saw the perfect opportunity. Life was what pushed Lorelai to walk into the diner that morning, nothing else. And along with Lorelai came Rory. The score is 0:0. Somehow life had managed to screw up somewhere along the lines and let Luke slip. Luke had gotten himself involved with a lawyer and while life wasn't looking, Luke had managed to marry this lawyer. And then in the process of trying to fix Luke's life, life had managed to break Luke's heart. Luke's scale had managed to go down a notch or two in this process. After being thrown so many obstacles, so many blockades, and so many red lights, life decided to throw in a green light too. Lorelai. That was his destination and all of this was just a test, something trying to slow him down. When he finally reached his destination, he approached cautiously. Never had he been so wary of life, the controller of all things fair and unfair. Now if only he could cheat this system and win that million bucks from the slot machine. No such luck. Life got bored and decided to throw a little rubble on the road. If only Luke had been awake while driving that car that we call life. If only he had been aware of what was coming. If only he could have cheated that system. Well you all know the story; Luke left, and then returned home to find himself unwanted. -1. As told above, Sookie intervened, and saved the day, and the scale of life.

If only they could now cheat the system like Luke always planned. If only if would go as planned. But no. we all know that for life to stay fair, we must keep the good in check with none other than the bad.

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Luke woke up feeling a slight breeze run along his back. He looked up towards the window to see Lorelai just standing there looking out at the moon.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked sleepily as he sat up and shielded his eyes from the blinding light of the moon.

"What?" Lorelai asked. She had obviously just been concentrating on some thought of hers.

"I was just wondering what's wrong." He said as he smiled. Lorelai didn't know why he was smiling, but Luke knew it was because he was looking into Lorelai's face. Ever since he had come back some three and a half months ago, he would smile whenever he was around her. He could always feel illuminating happiness resonating throughout any room that she was in. She was what kept him going.

"Oh, nothing, I was just thinking." She said simply. "I couldn't sleep." She added seeing the confusion on Luke's face. Until now, she had always been able to sleep when Luke was there, but now she was different. Luke had noticed it the first night he slept at her house. He had woken up to find himself in the same situation he was in now.

He glanced at the clock. 1:37. it was not normal for her to be up before 6:30 in the morning so this behavior was odd to him. She had never done this before when they were together.

"Come back to bed." He pleaded more than commanded while he patted the vacant spot next to him.

"Ok." Lorelai said with a seductive smile on her face as she slowly walked over to the bed. Jake's crib had been moved to Rory's room temporarily.

Rory was not around as often now and only stayed a couple nights each month. She had now been single for the past two months after being in a relationship for 6 months. Rory had started spending more time with her friends now. Because of this, Jake had been able to sleep in Rory's room for now while a nursery was being added across the hallway from Luke and Lorelai's room.

"Luke, do you remember the day that you gave me that flannel shirt and that baseball cap for Jake?" Lorelai asked as she covered herself with the blankets.

"Yah. Why?" he asked. Had that been what she was thinking about?

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about the past few months." She said again staring at the window. Boy was that moon fascinating! Luke thought.

_"Luke, why don't you come and meet your son?" Lorelai asked. _

_"Ah…sure." Luke answered uncomfortably. _

_"Come on. It'll be fun." Lorelai joked as she steered Luke towards the bassinet. Luke didn't have much time to react so just went with it. What was going to happen? Would Luke pick him up and drop him right away? What if I crush him? Luke thought. _

_"So, here we have the little baby that you have spawned!" Lorelai said excitedly as she picked Jake up. _

_"Do you want to hold him?" Lorelai asked. She saw the nervousness in Luke's face. "Hey, are you ok?" she asked Luke sincerely. When Jake started to wiggle around in her arms she shifted him so he had his head looking over her shoulder. _

_"Ah…yah. It's just, I have had a son for a few months now," he started. _

_"Four." Lorelai added. _

_"Ok. Well I have had a son for four months, not to mention when you were pregnant, but I didn't even know about it. It is just a little strange. Why didn't you tell me again?" he asked. There was no harshness or any hint of accusing her in his voice. He just wanted to know. _

_"Luke, please not this again. I could not get in touch with you. I didn't think you would come racing back either." She started. When Luke opened his mouth to speak she interrupted him, "Luke, I am sorry. I wasn't thinking. I just had Christopher flashbacks and I instinctively thought that you might do that too. I am sorry. I know I should have told you. You are NOT Christopher. I get that now. So please, can we just try and make it through the rest of the day and we will talk more about this tonight?" she pleaded. _

_"Yah. Sure." Luke said giving into Lorelai. He then pulled into a hug along with Jake of course. _

_"So I ask you again, do you want to hold your son?" Lorelai said after she broke away from Luke's embrace. _

_"Yes." Luke answered. Lorelai smiled and then carefully placed Jake into Luke's arm. Luke looked down at his son and immediately felt a connection. Jake then smiled up at Luke as they both stared into each others' eyes. Luke's face broke out into a huge smile. He looked up at Lorelai who had been watching the interaction. She smiled at Luke. _

_"Oh so cute!" she teased. _

_"He may be cute but I am not." Luke stated. _

_"Oh! Is lukey to shy to outwardly admit that he thinks his son is cute? And that he himself is cute might I add?" Lorelai said seductively. Luke then gave her a quick glare._

_"I did not say that!" he argued._

"_Fine! I will drop the cute thing! But the sexy thing is going no where mister!" she said smiling. _

_"When did the sexy thing come into the picture?" Luke asked playing along with Lorelai's games. _

_"Well, I believe it was when my night in shining plaid flannel walked through the door. I should probably get him out of the house before you see him shouldn't I?" Lorelai teased again. Luke then went back to watching Jake play with Luke's thumb. _

_"How much have I missed?" Luke asked not taking his eyes of the tiny baby he was cradling in his arms. _

_"Not much. Well except for his birth, which I am sure you hand is thankful for." Lorelai joked. _

_"Lorelai." Luke said in a husky but pleading voice. _

_"Luke, you haven't missed much. His birth as mentioned before, his first smile, maybe a couple of shots here and there, his first cold, not fun by the way, and some whining. There is so much more left in his life Luke." she said as she rubbed his upper arm trying to comfort him. "He still hasn't learned to crawl, walk, talk, he hasn't learned how to use the bathroom, which you are teaching him by the way!" she said pointing her finger at him. She smiled at him. "There is also his first day of school, his first baseball game," Luke smiled at this thought, "his first cup of coffee." she added. Luke's smile disappeared. _

_"He is not going to kill himself like you do! That is your choice but he is not, I repeat NOT becoming a junkie like you!" he lectured. _

_"Oh, that's what you think. I will have him on that stuff so fast that you won't even know what hit you!" she said back. She had on her smug 'and you can't do anything about it!' face. _

_"Oh! You are hopeless! There is no point in trying to reason with you is there?" he asked as a smile spread across his face. God he loved this. He wasn't even back a week and yet he was still back in the heaven he had left behind. _

_"No, there isn't. Now I am going to make some coffee." she said. She gave him a quick peck on he lips, gave Jake a little tickle and then walked off into the kitchen. Jake just smiled. _

_"What are we going to do with your mother?" Luke asked Jake. Jake just giggled. Luke knew that his son didn't understand a word he was saying but he felt as if he did. Luke decided to follow Lorelai into the kitchen. _

_"So what is his full name?" Luke asked as he walked into the kitchen. _

_"What? Oh, Jake. Uh his official name is Jacob William Danes, but we call him Jake. It is a lot less blackmail sounding." Lorelai added. _

_"What?" Luke asked, confused at what the hell she was talking about. _

_"Ah! The bible Luke, the bible! Even I know the story!" Lorelai said hoping Luke would realize what she was talking about. Nope. "Jacob and Esau or whatever his name was, were brothers. Jacob blackmailed Esau into giving away his inheritance. That's the short version. For the full fledged one, you will have to go to church or ask Rory." Lorelai summarized as she poured the water into the coffee maker. _

_"Rory?" Luke asked confused. _

_"When Rory was little she stumbled across a bible and started to read it. She read it over and over to me." She said dramatically. _

_"She read it to you?" Luke asked. _

_"Luke! It's Rory! I mean why would I read a bible to Rory?" she added. Didn't he know her enough? _

_"I don't know would you?" Luke asked. This time it was to tease Lorelai. He could tell the questions were starting to bug her. _

_"Ah! You are annoying!" Lorelai sighed. Luke just chuckled. That was a first. Luke was annoying Lorelai. That had never truly happened before. _

_"So his middle name is William," Luke started. _

_"After your father." Lorelai interrupted. _

_"And his last name is," Luke continued but was again interrupted by Lorelai. _

_"Danes. His last name is Danes." Luke didn't know what to say. Why? She hadn't done that with Rory. Rory had stayed a Gilmore, but yet Lorelai had given Jake Luke's last name? This didn't make sense, unless of course she had still loved him at the time. _

_"Danes." Luke said astonished still at the fact. _

_"Yep. After you. Well obviously, I mean who else would the 'Danes' be from? Maybe Santa clause, or the Easter bunny oh wait, Easter hasn't gone by yet, or maybe--" she was cut off my Luke's lips crashing into hers. He some how managed to kiss her while holding the baby without breaking him in two. _

_"When did you get so good at that?" Lorelai asked after breaking the kiss. She traced her finger around her lips. Her eyes remained closed. She didn't want this moment to end, but like all moments, it did. _

_"Oh, you know, just some girl on the street." Luke joked. _

_"Oh, well don't I feel loved! So where did you go?" Lorelai asked Luke. _

_"What?" Luke asked not understanding Lorelai's question. _

_"I mean when you left. A year ago. Where exactly did you go?" Lorelai asked again. It hit her hard having to admit that it had been a year since he had left. Oh how time flies! She thought._

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Review please! Make me happy and review! You know you want to! it is so tempting isn't it? Give into the temptation! Please be honest with me here. Good, bad, in between, even the "please go back into hiding ducky's are welcomed. Keep in mind I am very stressed right now, so be nice and REVIEW! Feed my obsession by reviewing! I don't know what that exact obsession is yet, but your reviews only encourage it! And you are always taught to Encourage in school. See, third grade was useful.


	2. Buttered Breakfast and A Little Story

And the saga continues! more like my emotional rollercoaster that I take out on Gilmore Girls. Sorry, but that is my way of venting. So, new chapter, you will love it--maybe. So my internet was down all of this morning, and so I actually had about three hours to do nothing but write some more for my fic. Yah snow! That was the real culprit! Thank you snow! It snowed last night and knocked down our cable, which is also our internet. That might not be exactly right, but i am an idiot. I can barely be trusted with the coffee maker because of the fear of me killing Casanova. Casanova is the name I gave my coffee maker by the way. I think it is very fitting. what do you think? ok, so I got a chance to write more, and update sooner because the internet was down, which was caused by the snow, so the conclusion of this little ramble is that snow is indeed magical, and that we should build it a shrine. Just thinking. So on with the story!

**Disclaimer: If I owned Gilmore Girls, I wouldn't have hired anyone that ugly to play Luke's daughter, let alone give Luke a kid!**

A/N: _Italics are for flashbacks and thoughts._

**Chapter Two: Buttered Breakfast and A Little Story**

"What are you thinking about?" Luke asked her as Lorelai stared off into space.

"What?" Lorelai asked not hearing what he had just said. Luke chuckled at this.

"I asked what you were thinking about." he said with a smile on his face.

"What makes you think I was thinking about something?"

"Well, for one, you were silent," Lorelai playful swatted at his chest for this remark, "two, you are living, and that is what living things do, and thirdly, I could see it in your eyes." Luke finished as he kissed Lorelai's cheek lightly.

"Well aren't you Mr. Genius? I was just thinking about the day when you came back with the little flannel shirt and the little baseball cap. Hey, were you actually planning on leaving before then?" she asked, curious to know what the answer was. She was surprised she had never asked it before.

"Actually yes, I was. But then Sookie came and,"

"And she saved the day!" Lorelai finished enthusiastically.

"Yes she did." Luke said as a smile appeared on Lorelai's face. They were facing each other now both with the feeling of security firmly embedded in their hearts.

He kissed, first it was just a simple peck on the lips but then Lorelai decided to put more force into it. She somehow turned him over onto his back and straddled him.

"Luke, your little friend is getting a little frisky!" Lorelai said as she felt him become aroused underneath her.

"Oh, god! Lorelai!" he started as she started to kiss down his neck. "No, we can't do this!"

"What? Why?" Lorelai asked. She was shocked. She immediately sat up, still straddling him. Why would he want to stop?

"The baby, downstairs" he pointed out.

"Let me see one, two, three, four," Lorelai started counting on her fingers, "five, six, yep, about ninety." she said smiling at Luke.

"Ninety what?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Luke, we have done this at least ninety times in this very same situation, and might I add in this very same position. Luke it is quarter of two, Jake is not going to hear us and he is not going to wake up. We might as well take the opportunity now before he is so old that he will be able to crawl out of bed and walk into the room while we are committing these dirty acts. I know you are nice, and kind, and respectful, but Luke you are a man. And men have manly urges." she smiled at him while playing with his chest hair. She then leaned down to whisper in his ear. "And why don't we just see if we can work out some of those urges." she whispered seductively. He grinned at as he rolled her over, so that he was on top.

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"Lorelai wake up." Luke said as he shook her up.

"Go away." Lorelai's muffled voice whined as she swatted Luke's hands away.

"Come on, get up. I won't make any coffee if you don't get up now." he said.

"I'm up!" she said as she sat straight up in bed. She covered eyes as Luke pulled the curtains to their normal place at the side of the window. "Bad sun!" Lorelai said as she ran her hands over her face.

"I am going to make coffee" Luke said as he exited the room. Lorelai watched as he walked away. He was already showered and dressed for the day. The only thing he was missing was his baseball cap.

Lorelai slipped out of the bed naked. She searched around the room for Luke's shirt but only came up with his boxers and her bra. She smiled at the memory of the previous night, or earlier that morning technically speaking. She finally gave up and went to her bureau and slipped on a shirt and then put on the boxers that were lying on the floor.

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She walked down to the kitchen to find Luke flipping pancakes.

"Oh! For me?" she said innocently.

"Good morning. Nice outfit." Luke said as he kissed her and then gestured the spatula at Lorelai's clothes.

"Boxers are the new shorts. Especially boxers that come off of a very dirty man." she said seductively as she picked up the cup of coffee that Luke had placed on the counter.

"I am not dirty, you are dirty, I am just a pawn in all of your little games." he said still concentrating on the pancakes.

"That sure sounded dirty to me." she grinned at him.

"What? Oh geez! Leave it to you to think of the most inappropriate thoughts." he said as he placed the last pancake on the plate and turned the stove off. He turned to face her.

"They are not inappropriate! We use them in the bedroom all the time!" she exclaimed innocently. Luke gave her a funny look and handed her her plate.

"here." he said ignoring her last comment.

"But lukey, where is my butter, and my chocolate, and the syrup and the," she was cut off by Luke's kiss.

"Shut up and go sit down." he said quietly pulling away.

"Fine, but you are buttering my pancakes!" she said flashing a grin at Luke who just rolled his eyes.

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Lorelai hopped into the shower while Luke watched TV downstairs.

"Ah!" Lorelai screamed as boiling hot water hit her body. "Ow!" she yelled to herself. She immediately moved out of the path of the spraying water. She turned the knob for the cold water hopping to even the temperature out. She stuck out her arm into the water. "Much better!" she said directly to the showerhead. As she lathered her body in soap, she remembered the remainder of the day that she had been thinking about previously.

"_I mean when you left. A year ago. Where exactly did you go?" Lorelai asked._

"_I was in Maine--with Liz." Luke said hesitantly. He didn't know why but he thought this might have angered her. It didn't._

"_And with the Etch-a-sketch guy?" Lorelai asked smiling._

"_Yes, with T.J. too. They were spending sometime in Maine for the rest of the winter to set up there new house there. I ended up helping because T.J. doesn't know a pipe cutter from a toaster!" Luke said starting a rant but Lorelai cut in._

"_What is she doing here now?" she asked._

"_Who, Liz? I believe she and T.J. have gotten a house here." he answered. All of a sudden Jake started screaming at the top of his lungs._

"_Hey buddy! Come see you's mommy!" Lorelai said holding out her arms. Luke carefully handed Jake to Lorelai. "Shhhh, it's ok. Are you tired? Hungry, need a diaper change? Maybe some coffee." she said trying to tease Luke._

"_No! No coffee!" Luke said. Lorelai broke out into a fit of laughter which caused Jake to stop crying and stare intently at his mother._

"_Luke it was just a joke." she said as she got control of herself again. She was still smiling and Luke was still looking shocked. Still smiling Lorelai walked by him to the stairs so she could change Jake's diaper._

Just then Lorelai heard screaming coming from the baby monitor.

"Jake is up! Luke can you get him!" Lorelai yelled from the shower.

"How the hell does she do that?" Luke asked himself as he got up from the couch to go retrieve his son. She could always tell when Jake was up or crying no matter where she was in the house.

He opened the door to Rory's room and sure enough Jake was lying in his crib screaming at the top of his lungs. "Oh god! Not another screamer!" Luke commented.

"Dirty!" Luke heard someone behind him say. Luke picked up Jake and turned around.

"Lorelai! What are you doing! Someone could walk in here and see you!" Luke exclaimed. He must have been referring to the fact that Lorelai was walking around in the nude.

"Hey, if a little kid can do it then so can I! Plus I haven't heard any complaints so far. Here, let me see him." Lorelai said as she reached out for Jake. Luke did not hand him over.

"Hey! Luke it is not as if he will remember poor mommy's naked body in a couple of years. God knows you forget it every morning and need a reminder of how pretty I am naked every night!" she said with a smile on her face. He rolled his eyes at her.

"How about you go upstairs, before Babette comes in and sees you like that. And I will change his diaper and feed him, and then you can dress him and cuddle with him or whatever other form of mother-child bonding you do. Ok?" Luke suggested.

"Fine." Lorelai said as a pout appeared on her face.

"Not going to work."

"Humph! You're no fun!" Lorelai exclaimed. She crossed the room and kissed the top of the now silent 7 month old in Luke's arms. "I think he has grown quite attached." Lorelai said. She smiled at Luke and then said, "Watch where those eyes wander buddy." she then kissed him and walked out of the room. Luke couldn't help but to look downwards.

He had missed her that year he was gone and was now trying to make up for it. She seemed to accept him back into her life but he still wasn't sure if he deserved it.

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Sorry that it is so short. I know that I have more potential to write, but so does my little brother, but it means he uses that potential now does it? So please review. I love writing this story for you, but it becomes a little boring when I don't get responses from some of you that read but don't review. Don't think I don't notice you! I am watching you right now! So be nice to Ducky and she will love you forever and ever! And maybe and extra ever can be thrown in there if you give me suggestions.

I know where I am taking this, but it is the little things in the middle that I don't know about. Tell me if there are any specific events or funny things you want to happen, in flashbacks or in the present. Even very outrageous suggestions can be used. i can be very creative sometimes. So there are the suggestions, and if you are going to say that it is good, can you please say why. And if you hate it, please say why also. Now if you are going to tell me how you woke up at one this morning to eat a donut, then I don't need to know the reasoning behind that. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	3. Rapists and Sex Tales and Coffee Oh My!

Hehe. Back again! It's never ending! I never leave! Oh well. Deal with it. It is the only way you get my writing! Thanks for the review so far. They are so so so appreciated. They make me happy, and they make my day so much better. I am now at my grandmother's place of work, where I have just spent the last 6 hours helping transport my sister and my little brother around town and helping sort paperwork. I hate it. I have four paper cuts now, and like all paper cuts, they hurt. Sorry about the complaining but that is what you get for wanting to read my fic. Plus I know that half of you have just decided to skip over this lovely little paragraph. Shame on you! And that was pointless because those of you that I am directing that towards didn't even read it. Yada yada yada. the end. And I would also like to point out the fact that I wasn't going to update today; I was going to wait until tomorrow, but I am a nice person. So I expect to see a "Thank you Ducky!" somewhere in all of your reviews.

_**Disclaimer:** I have NEVER owned a thing. If I did, I would not be putting my talents to use by writing this fic? I didn't think so. _

**Chapter 3: Rapists, and Sex Tales, and Coffee, Oh My!**

"There, all dressed! Now hand over that child!" Lorelai exclaimed as she ran down the stairs fully clothed this time.

Luke was sitting on the couch watching Jake crawl around on the floor.

Jake had been stopping whenever he found something interesting to look at. He had just been looking up at the mirror on the wall with the light and the closet doors in the reflection. The moment he heard his mother he turned his head to look to see if his speculations had been true.

"He's over there." Luke said sitting back and pointing towards Jakes current position. He was still surprised at how much work it was to keep a 7 month old child out of trouble. He had had to get up almost every 3 minutes to either stop Jake from escaping into the kitchen or chewing on something that no mouth belongs on; the last thing had been one of Lorelai's sneakers (which were just there in case of emergency and no other reason.).

"Oh! Look at you!" Lorelai exclaimed in a baby voice as she bent down and held out her arms towards Jake. He quickly giggled at his mother and then crawled over to her. He tried to stand by pulling at her legs but had not yet mastered that skill, so Lorelai picked him up. She quickly kissed him on his nose. Luke smiled in the background as he watched two out of the three most important things in his life.

"Was daddy mean to you when he didn't let you chew the shoe?" she asked him Jake in a baby voice.

"Hey! How in the world do you know these things? First this morning with him crying while you were in the shower, and now the shoe thing!" Luke exclaimed.

"Hun, there are these remarkable devices called baby monitors, and I believe that humans are still born with ears." she said in a tone that said: 'you should know this by now.' "I heard him crying through the baby monitor and I heard you say 'don't chew on mommy's shoe' you were so loud that Babette could have heard you!" Lorelai said while laughing as if everything was obvious. Not to Luke apparently.

"Ok! Why don't we just go then?" Lorelai said trying to fill in the awkward silence that had filled the room. Luke still had a confused look on his face but he immediately replaced it with a smile.

"Ok, I will get the bag." Luke said as he walked over to Rory's room to retrieve the sacred, magical diaper bag that held everything a baby would ever need.

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"Luke!" Lorelai yelled into the kitchen. They had been at the diner for only twenty minutes and Lorelai had to go. "Luke? I have to go so come say goodbye to your son!" she yelled even louder.

"Hunny he went upstairs to get something while you were in the bathroom." Miss Patty chimed in.

"Oh, ok. Would you mind watching Jake for a second while I go find the big strong hunky diner owner of mine?" Lorelai asked.

"Not at all! But if he is naked up there could you take some pictures?" Miss Patty asked enthusiastically as she yanked Jake from his car seat.

"Ok Patty I will!" Lorelai agreed as she headed for the stairs to the apartment. Miss Patty never ceased to amaze her.

As she entered the apartment she found Luke tossing things left and right looking for something. "Hey diner man! What ya looking for?" she asked.

"My wallet!" he asked frustrated.

"Then what would it be doing in the box of" she started trying to see what the box was labeled. "A box of cleaning products?" she finished.

"What? Oh, I don't know!" Luke answered throwing his hands up in the air in defeat.

"Hey hun, would it possibly be on the counter?" Lorelai said as she picked up the wallet that was laying right next to the sink.

"What! How could I have missed that?" he said calming down as he walked over to Lorelai. He reached for the wallet but she pulled it out of his reach and held it behind her back.

"First mister, I want something." she said smiling. Luke smiled back and leaned down for a kiss. He started it out as just a simple peck on the lips but then Lorelai induced a mutation. And it became more passionate. Luke wrapped one arm over her shoulder and the other around her waist where it pulled her closer. Lorelai dropped the wallet and reached both arms around Luke's neck. Luke slowly walked backwards leading Lorelai to the bed that still lay in the apartment.

"Luke, we can't." Lorelai said pulling back. She saw the confused look on his face. "I mean we can't do this now. I have to get to the inn and you have to…you have to get back to the diner. Patty has probably already suffocated our son with her boobs." she laughed as she stepped back. She walked over to the table where the wallet had been dropped. She tossed it at him. "Here's your wallet. Let's go downstairs so you can say goodbye to Jake and give me more coffee!" she said enthusiastically as she walked over to him. She dragged him by his arms over to the door. "Come on! Just a few more hours and I'm yours! Maybe Kirk will throw a fit like the other day! And then you will have Miss Patty grabbing your ass again! You can't tell me that wasn't fun?" she said as she smiled at him.

"That was not fun. At all! I mean she practically raped me!" Luke started to go on one of his rants. "I mean isn't that illegal? The woman has enough fun with every other man on earth! Why can't she just leave me alone?" Luke continued.

"Because you are just so irresistible!" Lorelai piped in. "wait till Jake is older! Boy will Miss Patty have fun with him if looks anything like you!" Lorelai teased knowing it would only continue Luke's rant.

"Oh my god! She is not touching my son! It is bad enough that she harasses me! But that is sickening!"

"And she will probably start when he hits puberty." Lorelai added.

"Oh geez! And that will be in like ten years! He will be like eleven or twelve! That is not right! Statutory rape even! Someone has got to stop her!" Luke concluded.

"I love ranting Luke. He is so much fun!" Lorelai said laughing and smiling. Luke rolled his eyes and exited the apartment, dragging Lorelai along with him.

"Bring ranting Luke back! I want my ranty Luke!" she argued fakingly and hitting Luke playfully as he dragged her down the stairs.

"Fine! If I give up will you let me go and give me some coffee?" she asked.

"Yes and no." he answered. He let go of her but she just stood there.

"Coffee Luke! Give me coffee! I will steal it if I have to! I will go behind the counter if I have to but I shall have my coffee! Now gimme!" She begged like a little child.

"no." he said with a smile on his face.

"Please Luke? For my sanity, for my well being, for your son!"

"How will coffee help my son?" he asked.

"Well, uh…it will…damn! But it does benefit him! I swear! Luke now please give me the coffee! Please!" she begged. She then leaned in towards him. "I will beg and plead all you want tonight if you just give me one cup of your wonderful coffee!" she whispered in his ear. Luke smiled at her.

"One, and then you leave."

"Fine! But I want a scone!" she said.

"We don't have any scones." he pointed out.

"Well then make some! You know, you do owe me." she said.

"For what?"

"Well the other day, when it was one in the morning and Jake was screaming at the top of his lungs because of his fever, you wouldn't get up so I had to." she said.

"As I remember correctly, I had to get up about two hours later only I faced more pain in the actual process." he said.

"That was an accident!" she said as she remembered what had happened.

"_Luke! Get up! It's your turn and he is your son too!" Lorelai muffled voice complained as she lay in bed with her face down in her pillow. Jake had been whining for 15 minutes straight. "Get up!" she said as she went to nudge him with her foot, but she ended up kicking him hard, and in between the legs._

"_Ow! What the hell!" Luke winced in pain._

"_Oh god! Luke! Are you ok?" she got up to see what was wrong. She knew what was wrong right away--he was now clutching his privates-- so to say--in pain. "I am so sorry!" she said trying to hold in her laughter. Well that certainly had gotten him up._

"_No you aren't!" Luke said only able to get those words out._

"_Here let me help!" Lorelai said trying to hug him. _

"_No! You have done enough. Ah!" Luke said as he moved away from her and fell off the bed. _

"_Oh my god! Luke!" Lorelai scrambled to the side of the bed to look down on him._

"_Why the hell did this have to happen to me?" Luke sighed. This time Lorelai couldn't hold in her laughter._

"And laughing about it made it all better now did it?" he asked.

"No! Luke you know I didn't mean for that to happen! Damaging the goods gets me no where so I actually had a reason to avoid that!" she joked.

"Oh geez! Stop there!" he said as he walked behind the counter to get her coffee.

"Oh, well you know it wouldn't be so good for you either. Can you imagine you not getting any--"Lorelai started.

"Stop right there! There will be no discussion of our lives in the bedroom!" Luke warned.

"Oh, but Miss Patty likes It." she teased and then turned to Miss Patty. "Don't you Patty?" she asked.

"Well it does paint a lovely picture dear." she responded with a smile.

"Oh geez!" Luke held out the to-go cup for Lorelai to take. "Now take the coffee and go! Far away!" he said to Lorelai. She took the coffee, picked up the diaper bag, and grabbed Jake from Miss Patty.

"Oh! Jakey! Did you hear that? Daddy doesn't love us any more!" she said in a baby voice. Luke walked over to Lorelai and Jake.

"I do love Jake, but your place on the scale of hate to love is now somewhat unknown." he said smiling. He kissed Jake on the head and then gave Lorelai a quick peck on the lips.

"Bye." he said.

"Bye darling dearest lover! Bye Patty, Kirk, Andrew, and all you other guys who just love hearing my stories. I always love an audience!" she yelled as she walked out the door. Everyone who didn't know Lorelai just stared at her as if she was heading to turn herself back into the insanity ward. The door bell rang and Luke sighed. The song from snow white was still running through his head from the previous night.

"_Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to work we go! Dun dun dun dun! Dun dun dun dun! Hi ho, hi ho, hi ho, hi ho!" Lorelai sang as she walked through the front door carrying only Jake in her arms. "Lukey! Lukey! I know you are here! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" she yelled through out the house as she set down her purse and removed her shoes._

"_Lorelai? What are you singing?" Luke said coming in from the kitchen. He removed Jake from the arms of his beautiful girlfriend. It was strange. He hadn't thought about that until now. It felt strange that they had a seven month old son but yet they weren't married or even engaged for that matter. Being engaged wouldn't be a bad idea, he thought to himself._

"_What! You have never seen snow white and the seven dwarves? You are worse than I thought! What have you been doing will all of your spare time? Eating? Sleeping? Living a normal life?" she asked in astonishment._

"_Actually yes." Luke answered._

"_Ah, well you are forgiven. But we are watching it tonight! And it's animated too!" she said excitedly._

"_Oh no!" he complained. He had never really hated it though. He had always enjoyed it because Lorelai was there. Luke loved the feeling that she was his to love forever. But then once the movie ended, the uncertainty of her loving him back returned. He could never seem to get that feeling out of the pit of his stomach that maybe she deserved better and that he was holding her back. _

_The funny thing was that she felt the exact same way. She felt as if maybe his love was too good for her. Maybe he was being teased with thoughts of her when she wasn't even sure if she was worthy of him. Sure he may feel infatuated now, but it doesn't mean that she was the best that Luke could get. If only that uncertainty would leave both of their hearts, then they could try and get over the hurdle of truly trusting each other._

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Yah! Another good chapter! I think. So, please review. Tell me, did you like the Flashbacks? Were they too random? I tried to fit some humor in here to make up for the lack of it in my other fic. Review or I will send my angry mob after you, and I warn you, they have pitchforks and torches. Sounds fun, huh? Plus, if that doesn't scare you, remember I have killer penguins and mute garden gnomes. Please tell me what you like about this, or what you didn't, depending on your opinion of this chapter. Please do not just say, "I hate it!" or "I love it, update soon.".

Every time you review, you save the life of a duck. For my sake and peace of mind, save that duck by reviewing. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! And I only received four reviews for the last chapter. I expect more this time!


	4. A Crack Baby Named Tarzan

Sorry it took so long. I really am. But I just started my new classes, and I have not written a lab in over a year (sad thought that ducky can write this but not a science lab) and my new French class is killing my confidence. It makes me feel stupid. So, anyways, enough of the complaining. For now. So here it is. It was originally going to be over twice this length, but what I had written sounded REALLY out of character, and I TRY to make everything seem as real as possible, I don't always succeed, but I try. I would like to thank all of you that reviewed my last chapter. You are wonderful people, and angry mobs shall not be sent after you. All of those that did read it, but decided that reviewing was too low for you, I have to say shame on you, and expect a visit from my angry mob and my penguins. Yes, penguins. And they are very vicious and will attack at random. I just thought I would warn you. And if you decide to run, they will hunt you down. But they do love all of you that reviewed! They might even send you candy, or a puppy, or maybe even a pony! I want a pony, but my mom said 'no'. That made me sad, but in your case, if you want one, just review and a pony will be sent to you door! Wow this is a long paragraph! Well, seeing as I am still writing, I might as well add that I believe that my social studies teacher is extremely crazy and ugly. She should be sterilized. Ok, now that you have all read that, I would like you to read my chapter. You know you want to! I mean, why else would you have checked out this web page? To just read this pretty little (not really) paragraph? I didn't think so! Go read! Now! Timmy, pick up your toys! Sorry, I was feeling random there.

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing, and writing one of these every time I update is very depressing because it reminds me that my dream will never come true: Taylor ends up marrying a can of tomato soup, and Kirk makes out with Miss Patty. But i guess that is why I got into the fan fiction business; I can write those scenes for everyone else to read!**

I am lazy, so if you see any grammatical errors, just tell me, and I will proof read this chapter. I wish I could say that I already did, but I didn't, so sue me! What a lovely person I am!

**Chapter 4: A Crack Baby Named Tarzan**

"Lukey! I want some fries!" Lorelai yelled as she walked into the diner. It was 5:30 and there were people all around. She sat at the counter where a cup of coffee had already been placed.

"And?" he asked.

"Well now that you mentioned it I would like a burger, and some chili fries to go with the regular ones, ooo! And I want to see you dance naked around the room!" she said with a smile plastered on her face.

"So that would be a burger, some chili fries, regular ones, and a straight jacket?" Luke asked.

"Ooo! Kinky!" she commented.

"Oh geez! Stop that! Wait, where's Jake?" he said with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Calm down soldier! I only gave him to Kirk to raise as the next Tarzan!" she joked.

"Hey! I'm over here!" Kirk yelled from the corner.

"Oh, sorry Kirk I didn't see you there. Did you leave the little guy at home with your mom?" Lorelai joked. Kirk gave her a questioning look. "Never mind Kirk." she said as she dismissed his idiocy with the wave of her hand. She then turned back to Luke. "Sookie volunteered her services as babysitter for the night so we could go out." she said thrilled at the thought. They hadn't gone out on a date for over a month and she was dying to get out of the house without Jake.

"What? You left him with Sookie?" he said panicking again.

"Luke, she has two children of her own. I am sure she can handle it. I mean Davey is still chained to the wall in her basement but hey, he'll break free eventually. Plus, don't you want to go on a date? Go have dinner, go see a movie, maybe I will do a little dancing in the nude later on." she said. She knew Luke wanted to get out as much as she did.

"Fine. Where do you want to go?" he asked as he leaned over the counter.

"Ooo! Sniffy's!" she yelled enthusiastically.

"But you are eating now. Why don't we just go see a movie or something." he said. He wasn't too keen on seeing Maisy and Buddy but only because of the question they would ask. Luke hadn't seen them in over a year and they would definitely ask why. Lorelai knew this was why he didn't want to go but she knew he would have to do it eventually.

"Luke you know I can eat more food than an elephant! And plus I will help explain everything to them." she said sympathetically. She lightly placed her hand on his.

"Ok. But can you wait half an hour? I will close up in a half an hour." he said still leaning over the counter.

"Yep! Hey! Why don't we just go dressed casually tonight?" she asked.

"Laundry day?" he asked.

"Laundry day. And Rory took all my good clothes so I would have to run around naked." she said with a smile. He knew her so well.

"Well you might want to hold off on that for a little while." He joked, "So I will meet you home in about 35 minutes?" he asked.

"Yep!" she answered.

"Luke! Chili fries, regular fries, and a cheeseburger!" Caesar yelled from the door way to the kitchen holding a to-go bag.

"Ah! You do care!" Lorelai said. Luke then went and grabbed some pie and placed it in the bag.

"And cherry pie." he added with a smile.

"Ah! You are the best man on earth! No offense Caesar, but you do come in at a close second." she added.

"None taken." Caesar said as he walked back into the kitchen.

"So I will see you at home." Luke said giving Lorelai a quick peck on the lips.

"Home." Lorelai said right before she walked out of the diner.

-------------

Ring! Ring! Ring! The phone rang through the house.

"Hold on!" Lorelai yelled as she ran down the stairs to get the phone. She found it charging. "Well that's odd. Luke must have done that." she told herself.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey mom!"

"Hey babe! What cha doin'?" Lorelai asked as she walked up the stairs, phone still plastered to her ear.

"Oh, well I just got back from bringing one of my friends to the hospital so I just thought I would give you a call."

"What? Who was at the hospital?" Lorelai asked.

"Paris." She said nonchalantly.

"Really? What happened?" Lorelai asked, obviously very interested in the story.

And she cut her self with one of those knife things that artsy people use." Rory responded.

"Ah! So she did she have to get stitches?" Lorelai asked.

"Yah. So what are you doing right now?" Rory asked her mother as Lorelai slipped on a pair of clean jeans. Well the only pair of jeans.

"Ah, I am now…ah!" Rory heard a yelp and a thud in the background.

"Mom? Mom! Are you alright? Mom!" Rory asked frantically. What the hell was going on?

"Ah! Stupid me! I was trying to put on some pants and then I tripped and dropped the phone. Mommy's alright now. So as I was saying, I am getting ready to go out with Luke tonight." she said. Rory could tell that her mother was ecstatic about it.

"Wow! Yay! So who is watching Jake? Or is he coming along?" she asked.

"Ah, Sookie is going to watch Jake while me and Luke spend some time together. And then we will come home and…" Lorelai started but was interrupted by Rory.

"Mom! I don't what to hear about what you do with Luke in the bedroom!" Rory yelled into the phone.

"Oh, my poor baby is being tainted by my dirty plans!" Lorelai said faking sympathy.

"Why yes she is."

"Well actually I was going to tell you that we were going to come home, with Jake of course, and then all go to bed! After coffee though." she added.

"Yah, you can't forget the coffee. So how is Luke?" Rory asked.

"Good, he's good. Why?" Lorelai asked.

"No particular reason. I just wanted to know. It is the polite thing to do."

"Where did you learn that?" Lorelai asked.

"I think it was on Sesame Street when I was 5." Rory said.

"Ah, well that explains the manners! You've been watching too much of those hairy monsters I tell you! I should have stopped you! Now it is all my fault! Where did I go wrong?" Lorelai said in an over dramatic tone.

"Well I think it was when you told me to sit down on the couch and watch TV while you went to the bathroom or something." Rory said.

"Those five minutes! If only nature hadn't called me up and said 'hey, I'm calling' then you would have been fine! Those are the lost minutes of your life!" Lorelai said again being overdramatic.

"Like Shakespeare! Only less black plaguey." Rory said.

"Ok I am going to pretend I know what you're talking about. Hey what time is it?" Lorelai asked.

"Ah, it's five of six. Why? What time is Luke supposed to be home?" Rory asked.

"A little after 6. Hey babe I have to go. I will call you back later tonight. Ok?" she asked.

"Fine but make sure Luke is far away from you!" Rory demanded.

"That was one time!" Lorelai argued.

"And I will forever be scared by that moaning yelping sound! Now make sure Luke is in the other room!" she demanded.

"Fine. Listen I have to go. Bye babe." Lorelai said.

"Bye mom." Rory replied and then they both hung up.

Lorelai then pulled a dark blue silk tank top over her black lacey bra. Just then she heard the front door open.

"Lorelai?" she heard Luke call from the bottom of the stairs.

"Just a second!" she shouted as she quickly put on some eyeliner. "There! All done!" she said triumphantly to herself. She quickly turned around and walked out of the room towards the stairs. As she looked down, she saw Luke standing there smiling up at her.

"You look…wow!" he said speechlessly.

"Wow! And who thought a girl could get that without fancy formal wear?" she joked as she walked down the stairs.

"What?" he looked confused.

"Never mind. So we should go." she said changing the subject.

"Ah, yah, we should." he said. Lorelai walked over to the door and Luke followed. Luke grabbed her coat and put it on her.

"Oh! My big, strong diner man feels the need to help little old me put on my jacket." she joked.

"Well If the guys in white jackets can…" Luke joked.

"Hey! Do not pick on your child's mother! I will become emotional distraught, and then so will Jake who will then convert to a crack baby!" she reasoned.

"Aren't crack babies when you do crack while pregnant?" Luke asked.

"Maybe, but this way he will be unique! A new kind of crack baby!" she said with a smile on her face. She loved her little banters with Luke. They made the day so much more enjoyable.

"Oh, ok" Luke smiled and then kissed her. She was absolutely crazy, but that was what he liked about her. Loved about her. That was why he loved her. He then opened the door for her.

"Thank you sir" she said as Luke followed her out the door to the truck.

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It is short. I know this. But please review. I live off from them, and when people don't review, I think they either hate it, or that they just don't think it is worth their time. This, in a way, is the same thing. But it lowers my motivation to write more. This means that it takes longer for a chapter to be posted, and that makes everyone who does like my story, mad. And because of this, the world ends. So if you don't review. Then the world ends. It will be all your fault. So, please review. I appreciate any kind whether it is just a simple "I like it" or a three page essay on how to write a chapter properly. I just really want you to review and tell me what you think. Hate reviews are ok too. I would like to remind you who are thinking "the world won't end! This person is crazy! Why should I review?" but the answer to this is the angry mob, and the Penguins. They will haunt you in your sleep. They are like clowns. Terrifying.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! (They give me the warm and fuzzies)


	5. Sniffy's and Snappy Hell

Ok, so I will try to keep this short. I was REALLY busy this week! I have had a lab to do almost every night this week. And add some French, some social studies, and some algebra 2, and you have got my whole week accounted for. What is the point of an Algebra 2 anyways? I mean, can't they fit it all in Algebra 1? So far I have learned nothing more. Just review. So technically I am getting credits for "learning" things I already know. What a waste of my time. I could have used that time for another class! Stupid school! And this little paragraph is not getting any smaller now is it? So, I have officially come to the conclusion that you have to be crazy to enjoy drawing a map of America--for the forth time. I am sorry, but don't we learn this stuff in 6th grade? I know that I did! So why am I being subjected to this pointless repetition! It makes me mad! Oh, and I would like to dedicate this chapter to my friend Maggie, who has not only helped me with my labs this week, but has also given me a copy of the music from the musical Rent. It made me happy. I believe she is the only friend that can keep me somewhat sane. So we should all be happy that I have Maggie as a friend, or you would be trying to read incoherent thoughts. So, now that I have given a summary of my whole entire week, I say: ON WITH THE STORY!

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I do dream about it as I sleep through Algebra 2 though.**

_A/N:Italics are thoughts and flashbacks._

**Chapter 5: Sniffy's and Snappy Hell **

"Ooo! Over there! Over there!" Lorelai pointed over to the same booth that their first date had taken place. Luke just laughed as she ran over to the booth. He hesitated a bit so he could watch her.

She was so full of life, happiness, and joy. She was the one thing that could truly make him smile. She could also make him do other things but he quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he walked over to join her.

"Remember our first date here?" she asked as she looked up from her menu.

"yes." he answered. He was just watching her, observing her, basking in her ever-illuminating smile.

"And the horoscope. And the menu" she said gesturing towards the one lying unopened in front of Luke, "And the food. And Buddy and--" she was caught off by a short woman.

"Luke! Lorelai, dear!"

"Hi Maisy!" Lorelai said as she looked up to see the old woman standing before her. No change.

"Well I haven't seen you two in a while. It must be what, a year?" she said as she tried to count the months on her fingers.

"Yah! We've just been so busy lately!" Lorelai commented. Both Maisy and Lorelai glanced at Luke who was being silent. "Haven't we Luke?" she added nudging him with her elbow. Why wasn't he talking?

"Ow! Ah, yah. We have." he said unsurely. He knew what was coming next. Buddy.

"Luke! It's good to see you!" Buddy said as he came walking over. Luke smiled, stood up and hugged him.

"Yah, it is." Luke said as he sat back down. Now for the interrogation.

"So what have you been doing in the past year that has kept you from visiting?" Maisy asked.

"You, know, being busy." Lorelai said evasively. Not even ten minutes and the subject of the Luke and Lorelai fiasco of 2005 was already about to come up.

"Busy with what?" Maisy asked.

"Ah, well me and Luke, we kind of--" Lorelai started, but was interrupted by her cell phone going off. She looked to see who was calling.

"Who is it?" Luke asked.

"Ah, Rory. I have to go take this." she said looking up from her phone. "Be right back." she said kissing Luke on the cheek and then getting up to go talk to Rory. Once Lorelai was out of sight, Maisy's gaze moved back to Luke. She looked with eager eyes at him wanting him to continue the story. Luke didn't know what she wanted.

"So?" she asked.

"So what?" Luke asked.

"Continue with the story." Maisy demanded.

"Well, me and Lorelai, we were kind of…kind of broken up."

"Broken up? You two?" Maisy asked confused because she had never seen two people so in love and infatuated with each other.

"Yah, for a year."

"A year?"

"Yah. And during that time Lorelai was…Lorelai was…" he began. He didn't know how to say that Lorelai had been pregnant and yet not told him. He still didn't know why she didn't tell him. She could have always asked someone what Liz's number was. Even if he hadn't been staying there he would have told Liz where he was and Liz most surely would have relayed that information on to Lorelai.

"Lorelai was what?"

"Well she was pregnant." Luke finally was able to get out.

"She was what?" Maisy asked with a confused look on his face. Buddy was still standing there but he was completely silent letting Maisy ask all of the questions.

"She was pregnant."

"And now?"

"We have a son."

"A son? I have to sit down." Maisy said. She was overwhelmed by what she was being told. And all of this had happened in the past year and a half?

"His name is Jake. He is 7 months old."

"7 months? But…when did you two get back together?" Maisy asked wiping her hand over her forehead.

"Ah…about…three months ago" Luke said hesitantly.

"What!" Maisy asked. She was now REALLY confused.

-----------------------

"Hey! What's up?" Lorelai asked Rory as she walked over to the bathroom in the back.

"oh, well I was just wondering if I can stop by the house later tonight and pick up a few of my books that I am storing there." she answer.

"Oh, yah! So what time?"

"How about in an hour or so. I forgot my key so I need someone to let me in. will you be home by then?"

"Ah…no. how about in two hours?"

"Ok. Thanks. Bye mom!" Rory said enthusiastically.

"Welcome! Bye babe." and they both hung up. Lorelai laughed when she remembered why Rory couldn't have used the spare key.

_Two months previously_

_There was a thump heard outside. What the hell? Rory thought as she lay in bed. She glanced at the clock. 2:30. Thump! _

_"What the hell?" she said as she sat up and pulled the covers off from her slowly. She made her way out to the front door. Thump! "Ah!" Rory exclaimed. She opened the door only to find Kirk standing there…naked. "Kirk!" Rory squeaked. She quickly covered her eyes. He had been throwing the ceramic turtle against the wall. _

_"What do want?" Kirk yelled at her in a terrified tone. Rory heard voices coming from behind her._

_"Rory what are you doing out--ah!" Lorelai exclaimed as she walked out onto the porch. She too covered her eyes. "Kirk! What in god's name are you doing?" _

_"The assassin was trying to get me!" he yelled throwing the turtle once again against the outside of the house, only this time missed and the turtle went through a window. _

_"What the hell was that?" Luke could be heard from in the house coming down the stairs. _

_"One, two--" Lorelai started to count and just when she was about to reach three, Jake started to cry from upstairs. "Wonderful! I just got him to sleep an hour ago!" she yelled. _

_"Lorelai what's wrong? You jumped out of bed an--oh Kirk!" Luke said turning around. Rory ran inside to grab something. She found a blanket on the couch and ran back outside. _

_"--what the hell are you doing here Kirk?" Luke asked just as Rory walked outside onto the porch. She had her eyes closed and she threw the blanket at Kirk. _

_"Here!" she yelled. She waited ten seconds and then lifted her hand from her face. He had the blanket wrapped around his waist._

_"Hun, I am going to go see if I can get him to sleep." Lorelai said softly, referring to Jake. She looked exhausted and Luke could see it in her face. She trudged into the house, and out of sight._

_"This is a very comfy blanket Rory. Thank you." Kirk said detracting Luke and Rory's attentions away from the half sleeping Lorelai that had just exited the scene. _

_"Kirk, for the second time, what the hell are you doing here?"_

_"Well I was running from the evil vampires that were flying after me, and then I ended up here and the next thing I know, the turtle is attacking me!" he exclaimed. Luke glanced at the window. _

_"And what is that?" Luke asked pointing at the window._

_"Oh, well I finally got him off. And he just went flying through the window. Although I did see something shiny fly off from him. You should get that checked out." Kirk said as if he was making more sense than anyone else on earth._

_"Kirk! Just…leave." Luke said trying to keep as quiet as possible. He could hear Jake still crying from upstairs, and he thought he could hear another quiet sob accompanying it. _

_"Can I keep the blanket?" _

_"Yes Kirk, you can keep the blanket." Kirk's face then lit up and he started running down the street screaming "I get to keep the blanket! I get to keep the blanket! I get to--ah! The vampires!"_

_All Rory and Luke could do was smile. Luke then gestured for Rory to enter the house. He followed her a few moments later and closed the door behind him. Rory picked up the turtle and looked in it._

_"Luke, the key is missing."_

Lorelai then walked over to the table where she heard a sudden "what?" coming from Maisy.

"Hey! What'd I miss?" she asked.

"Not as much as me!" Maisy answered before Luke could even think of an answer to Lorelai's question.

"What?"

"I told her about us breaking up, and about Jake." Luke said quickly.

"Oh. Yah, sorry Maisy. You did miss a lot." Lorelai commented as Maisy stood up. Lorelai took Maisy's place in the booth next to Luke.

"I still don't understand what happened exactly though." Maisy said.

"Well, let's see, last year, at the end of February, me and Luke had a…" she quickly glanced at Luke, "we had a misunderstanding, and then we broke up. I found out I was pregnant, but he left before I got a chance to tell him." she clarified.

"So when exactly did you get back together?" Maisy asked again trying to have Lorelai fill in the paragraph long blanks that Luke had left in the story.

"Ah…it was about three months ago. Luke came back, saw me with Jake, one thing led to another, and here we are now talking to you!" Lorelai added. She and Luke had never really discussed those fights and insecurities. They had scratched the surface but no effort had been made on either part to go more in-depth than that.

"Wow! So Luke has finally had the son he always secretly wanted!" Maisy teased. Luke blushed at this, it was true but he would never admit it, along with many other things.

"Yah he does." Lorelai smiled at the thought of them being the perfect family, "maybe we can bring Jake by the next time we come. How does that sound?" Lorelai asked. She just wanted to get on with the night.

"Oh yes! I would love to see him! Next week?" Maisy said excitedly.

"Ah, I can't. But how about the Thursday afterwards?" Lorelai suggested.

"Perfect! How does that sound Buddy? Our Lucas has a little baby!" Maisy said pinching Luke's cheeks. Lorelai was barely able to hold back her laughter.

"Sounds good to me!"

"Well we will let you get back to your date!" Maisy concluded as she walked back to the kitchen dragging Buddy behind her.

"Well that was interesting. I am sorry I had to leave you to fend for yourself." Lorelai said sympathetically.

"Oh it's ok. It wasn't actually that bad." Luke said.

"Well I'm glad!" she said with a smile on her face leaned in for a quick kiss. As she pulled back she remembered-- "oh, Rory is going to stop by the house in two hours--"

"And we need to be there to let her in." Luke finished.

"Don't start with me mister! I haven't had anytime to go get an extra copy!"

"A key doesn't take long to copy!"

"Ha! Then why don't you do it?"

"Because I like arguing with you." he said with a grin on his face. He gave her a peck on the lips.

"You are changing the subject!" she said childishly pointing a finger at Luke.

"A kiss is a subject?"

"Well if you can be an expert in it then I believe it can be classified as one." she said.

"Oh, well then ok." he kissed her again.

"Going for your doctorate?" she asked smiling.

"Maybe." he leaned in for another kiss. This time it was repeated a couple of times before someone came over with their food. They smiled shyly and broke apart. Lorelai looked at her plate. _What the hell is this? _She thought. She tasted it. It tasted like that sheep stomach she had at her mother's house the other day; Wonderful! _On second thought, I don't want to know what it is._

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"I told you I didn't want to know! You deliberately disobeyed me! Go to your room!" Lorelai falsely chastised Luke.

"You did not tell me not to tell you what it was! You said 'what is this. It's so good!' and I answered "It's sheep stomach.'!" Luke responded as they both got out of the truck.

They had just arrived at Sookie's and were going in to get Jake. They both walked up to the porch.

"Well you are supposed to know that I don't really want to know what it is! You are supposed to say 'it is turkey, or chicken, or a very odd looking hamburger!' Not 'oh, it's sheep intestines!'" she complained hitting him in the arm.

"Sheep stomach." he corrected with a smile on his face.

"Whatever! Ah! You are getting pleasure out of this aren't you!" she said in astonishment when she saw his smile.

"maybe." he laughed. Luke then knocked on the door. Lorelai was just about to respond when the door flung open.

"Hey guys!" was Sookie's peppy response to seeing them standing in front of her.

"Hey Sook!" Lorelai said turning her attention from Luke to Sookie.

"Come on in! But be quite. All the kids are sleeping." she whispered as she led Luke and Lorelai into the house. Placed strategically around the living room were three sleeping children. It looked as if Martha had just been placed on the couch after falling asleep, while her older brother looked as if he had been in the middle of watching a movie which had been paused after his little nap began. The TV seemed to be just a blurry picture of some random cartoon talking. Lorelai flashed an asking glance at Sookie.

"Baby loonytoons." Lorelai tried to hold back the laughter. So not only had they been desperate enough to make the stupid show (wasn't the original enough?), but they had now copied it onto a tape and mass produced it. Oddly enough, those were also Luke's thoughts exactly.

And then Lorelai's gaze drifted to the port-a-crib sitting off to the side of the room. In it contained the little version of Luke that always made Lorelai smile when she thought of him as this. He was laying there with his mouth wide open with the tiniest hint of a smile.

"He's dreaming." Lorelai whispered.

"What?" Luke asked.

"He's dreaming Luke. Jake is dreaming." she smiled at the sight of her little baby who was now in the safety of his own little world. Lorelai just stood there overlooking Jake while Luke stood behind her, watching from over her shoulder. If only he could take this moment, stop time, and frame it. Frame it in one of those picture frames that are placed around almost every inhabited space of living. But again, that would be cheating.

"You guys want something to eat?" Sookie asked, oblivious to the hallmark moment that had been taking place. Lorelai and Luke were immediately pulled out of their little fantasies and day dreams.

"Ah, yeah, sure." Lorelai responded. Sookie walked into the kitchen to make some kind of snack. Lorelai glanced at Luke and flashed a quick smile before following Sookie into the kitchen. Luke smiled back, and once Lorelai was out of the room, he leaned down and kissed Jake on the head. He then trailed after Lorelai.

------------------------------------------------

"Ok, now I want some coffee." Lorelai said as she exited Rory's room. She had just put Jake back to bed, because he had woken up on the way back from Sookie's house. It had taken her 20 minutes at least and then he had woken up about 2 more times so she had to rock him back to sleep again. As she closed the door she spotted Luke at the kitchen table looking completely absorbed in some paperwork.

"hey, what ya doin'?" she asked. Luke was pulled out of his state of unawareness to find Lorelai watching him.

"Oh, ah, just some bills and stuff for the diner." he said. She looked exhausted, but she never would admit it. Luke just went back to his work though.

"Oh. So I guess you didn't hear my request for coffee."

"nope." he replied, not looking up from what seemed to be a very interesting sheet of paper covered in numbers. After a minute or so, Lorelai decided to just make it herself. She was shocked and astonished. She had just spent an hour and a half putting Jake to bed, and Luke couldn't even look up from his work to pay attention to what she was saying? She remembered the last time this happened. No, Luke and she were better. They had solved that! _But he is ignoring you now! He is blowing you off! You just spent all that time doing something that benefits both of you, and he just pretends like it is nothing_! SNAP! Her inner tolerance had just been broken. She didn't yell at him or anything, but inside she wanted to. When did he stop caring? When did he start to become the kind of man that ignores his girlfriend over some stupid bills that could be put off for another 5 minutes? She then recalled how Luke and she had been extremely happy for the past two months. But before that…they had had some problems. And now she was having flashbacks all over again. She hated that first month! She hated it! And she and Luke had worked things out, but this one little thing had brought that month tumbling back into her mind.

"Ok then…I will just make it myself." she said. She looked at Luke intently.

Silence.

After reminiscing over what had just happened, she walked over to the coffee pot. She filled up the coffee pot with water and then filled the coffee maker with it. She put in a new filter and some coffee grounds.She looked at them. Each time she made a pot of coffee, it was a different filter, different water, and different grounds, but at the same time, they were all the same rudimentary elements of the coffee making process. Was her life a coffee pot? Was it always a different guy, different situation, and different problem? Was the outcome always the same? Was Luke her new filter, and her different grounds, and different water? Was the outcome of there relationship going to be like the rest? Was Lorelai going to end up crying over more lost coffee?

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Sorry if none of that last part makes sense! But remember; only I know the real story! So, it may seem like that just came out of no where, but I will probably bring in the reasoning in the next chapter. So don't worry! If it did make sense, then great! So, do you like the metaphor at the end? And how was Sniffy's? Was it too odd? Was everyone in character? Did you like the Kirk thing? That Kirk thing becomes EXTREMELY important in the next chapter or so. The person that guesses why gets a unicorn (I'm out of ponies)! So, please review. I live off from them! Even if it is just to say "I like it!" or "it sucks! Go die!" please say it. Although, constructive criticism or just specific comments are greatly appreciated. I believe this is my longest chapter, so remember that!

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	6. These Green Hills, Showers, and

The talent! Two chapters in two days! I haven't done that in a while! I am sorry this is short, but hey, what did you expect? Remember I just update yesterday, and with a very long chapter might I add! So, I hope you like it. I will not tell you how far this chapter goes into the situation that arose in the last chapter, because see, that's why you read the chapter! Oh! And I have to tell you all about my chemistry class! We had to do some odd activity with these card things. We each got a card that we tapped to our heads (we couldn't read it).each card had something different on it, like one said "My fly is unzipped" and another one said "Tell me about your vacations" so we had to go around talking to people and either pretend what the card said was true, or we had to do what the card said. I didn't realize it until now, but mine connects to Gilmore Girls! Mine was "speak to me in clichés". So I went around and people kept talking to me in clichés, but I didn't get it until later. I was told that I was the first person that was able to GUESS that. It made me feel happy, until the little cliché thing carried into my next two classes. That got annoying, but I thought I should tell you because hey, it relates to our beloved show! Yay! Ducky made a connection! I feel like I should be writing some self assessment or something. God knows my counselor would be suggesting now! Oh, and my friend Maggie, who is the shyest, sweetest person on earth, had the card "I'm a pathological liar". It made us all laugh! So! Enough of Ducky's life! On with the story! And ignore the unsnazzieness of my chapter title. My creativity had run out for the night.

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own it. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I did though? **

_A/N: Italics are thoughts. There are no flashbacks here, so hair people need not apply. Hehe, did you get the joke?_

**Chapter 6: These Green Hills, Showers, and Calls**

She lay in bed thinking about her thoughts earlier. She never really had thought about her relationship with Luke being that way; being the same as all the others. Maybe she just wasn't destined to be with anyone. _Stop saying that to yourself! Stop! Luke is a great guy! He would never leave you! Oh! Here we go again! 'Luke is perfect! Luke is the best! So you should just settle!' Is that what you think Luke is? Settling? Where have I heard that before? Yourself! And remember in that case he was. Luke was settling! But that was Rachel! And he loved her too! No! I am different! No you're not! Yes I am! No you're not! How would you know? Because Luke is a man! Men see woman as sex and nothing more! Where have you been while we're in the bedroom? Right there with you! How primordial does he need to be to make you see that? But Luke never has looked at anyone like he does with me! Except for Rachel! Rachel is long gone! And how many times has she shown up unexpectedly in your lives? Exactly! But Luke is a wonderful man! Yah, just tell that to me when I, the sensible one, has been up all night trying to get Jake to sleep because Luke won't get up and help!_

"Wow!" Lorelai whispered to herself. Never had she had that much of a fight inside her head before. But what if she was right? What if she was just some woman to Luke? _And here we go again!_ She thought. She sighed trying to clear her mind. No use.

She pulled the covers away from herself, but this time, instead of going over to the window, she walked downstairs. She found her cup of coffee still half full. It was cold, but when you are tired, the temperature of you life sustaining beverage doesn't matter. She took a sip and sat down at the kitchen table. She looked at the bills on the table. They were for something that looked as if it wasn't due for another several months.

"This is what he ignores me for?" She took another sip of her coffee. She then heard a whimper from the other room. She set down her coffee cup and got up out of the chair.

She walked into Rory's room to find Jake sleeping. He was tossing, turning, and he had a terrified look on his face. Lorelai couldn't take seeing her little baby like this, so she picked him up.

"Hey, shhhh. It's ok." she cooed as she slowly rocked him back and forth in her arms. He opened his eyes just enough to see that he was in the protective arms of his mother. He cuddled into her chest as she sat down in the rocking chair. "Are you having another bad dream? Don't worry, mommy's here." she gently whispered in his ear as she rocked him off to sleep.  
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"Lorelai, hey. Wake up. Lorelai." Luke tried shaking Lorelai awake but it just couldn't be done. She had fallen asleep in the rocking chair after putting Jake back in his crib. He was now up and awake. "Lorelai!" Luke yelled. This frightened Jake who was now playing quietly in his crib. Lorelai woke up with a shudder. Had Luke just yelled at her?

"What?" she said quietly and annoyed as she rubbed her eyes.

"Time to get up. Breakfast and coffee is on the counter. I have to get to work early. So," he kissed her quickly on the forehead, "I will see you later on tonight." he then turned his attention to Jake. "Bye buddy!" he said in a baby voice that was almost never heard from Luke. He kissed Jake on the head as he lifted his arms up, obviously wanting to be picked up. "Sorry, but daddy has to go. Maybe mommy can." he kissed him one last time and exited the room.

"Sure, maybe I can." Lorelai mimicked as she slowly arose from the chair. She picked Jake up and walked up the stairs. "Great. I guess I will just have to shower at the inn." she concluded. There was no way she was going to just leave Jake in his crib awake while she took a shower. So she quickly packed Jakes bag, grabbed one for herself, dressed and fed Jake, and then headed off to the inn, in pajamas.

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She entered the inn through the kitchen so as not to scare the guest right away.

"Hey Sookie!" she said cheerfully.

"Hey--what are you wearing?" she asked midway through her usual greeting.

"Well I couldn't take a shower with the chance of Jake killing himself with one of his toys so I decided to come here and shower." she said as she set the bags down on the floor, and handed Jake to Sookie.

"But what about Luke?" Sookie asked.

"He had to leave early." she said trying to make it sound as if it was no big deal, but Sookie wasn't fooled this time.

"Oh, hasn't he been doing that a lot lately?"

"Yeah, but it's no big deal." she said trying to mask how much of a big deal it was.

"Yes it is. Maybe you should talk to him."

"Maybe. Hey Sookie, can you watch Jakey here so I can go take a shower?" _Changing the subject!_ She told herself.

"Sure, no problem. Me and Jakey will do just fine!" she concluded as she tickled Jake. He giggled as he tried to push her hand away. Lorelai smiled, grabbed her bag and ran off to one of the empty rooms to take a quick shower.

-------------------------------------------

As noon came around Lorelai was now faced with the decision of going to Luke's and acting as if nothing was wrong, or she could stay at the inn, and eat with all of the guests. She chose the latter.

So, as she ate, she tried to concentrate on the conversation she was having with an older couple from Somewhere in Vermont or New Hampshire. She couldn't remember.

The woman was short, probably around five feet tall and she was quite skinny. She had hair the color of wet sand and looked to be about 50 years old. Her husband was more robust and had a square jaw. He looked to be about a foot taller than his wife. He had grey hair the color of the sky on a cloudy day, and he had mentioned earlier that he was in his mid 50s.

"So where do you live again?" Lorelai asked. Hopefully this time the answer would stick.

"Oh, Vermont. So where does your husband work?" the woman asked.

"Oh, well, he is not my husband--"

"Oh, sorry, I just assumed." the woman interrupted.

"Oh, that's ok. Luke works at the diner down in the middle of town. Conveniently called Luke's Diner!" she joked. Obviously they didn't notice how much she was masking her real feelings because they kept going at it.

"Oh! That's wonderful. We will have to go there for dinner! How does that sound Herb?" the woman turned to her husband.

"Sounds lovely!" he responded. They looked so in love. _If only I could have that with Luke._ Lorelai thought.

"So tell us about Luke. What is he like, when did you two meet, how old is your darling child that you mentioned earlier?" she asked a lot of questions at once didn't she?

"Ah, well Luke. Hmmm. Flannel, backwards blue baseball cap. I can't really describe him." I don't want to either. "We met almost ten years ago, and it was at his diner, and over the years we just sort of became friends. We got together almost two years ago--"

"That long before getting together?" the woman asked in astonishment.

"Yah, well it just took a while to realize how much we loved each other." she answered. _LOVED? As in past tense? _She asked herself. _Stop questioning your relationship! _She yelled at herself.

"Well that sounds wonderful! Any thoughts of marriage?" she asked.

"Well…I….uh--" she stuttered before Michel walked into the room.

"Your disgusting diner man is on the phone." he spat. The couple looked oddly at Michel. Lorelai noticed this and added a:

"He's just kidding! Funny, funny Michel!" she said. "I'm sorry, I have to take this call." she said apologetically to the couple and then flashed Michel a 'Do-that-in front-of-our-guests-ever-again-and-I-will-rip-your-head-off' look. She walked over to the front desk and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey, it's me."

"Oh, David, what did I tell you about calling at the inn?" she teased.

"What?"

"Never mind. So what do you need?" she asked.

"Well I was just wondering if you were going to come over here for lunch. Are you?" he asked. Hmmm, she thought. To go, or not to go, that is the question.

"I am actually eating here right now. It's really busy," _lie! _She saw Michel look at her out of the corner of her eye. He knew she was lying, but Luke didn't. "So I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave." was it believable?

"Oh…ok. I guess I will see you tonight then?" he asked. He didn't believe her. She had told him a while ago that this was the week that they had barely gotten half of the rooms filled, so he doubted that she was telling the truth. But what if he was wrong? What if they had miraculously gotten all of the rooms filled? Yes, that must be it.

"Yep! Oh, and I have some paper work that needs to be done, so I need you to watch Jake tonight. Ok. Good. Bye." and she hung up the phone. Luke didn't even get a chance to answer. _What the hell was that? _He thought.

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Oh! Intrigue! Don't worry, the next chapter explains EVERYTHING! It even starts out with a flashback. But I can't post it! Because it isn't all written! So, posting it might be difficult. Although, I could try to. What do you think? So, what did you think of this chapter? Ready to kill me yet? You are probably thinking "when the hell is ducky going to post again!" and my answer is never! Just kidding! That would be horrible! I don't know. But if you have any ideas, or suggestions for this story, just tell me in your review. Now I know I just set myself up for all of the "get Luke and Lorelai back together!" suggestions, but that is the price I pay for being very vague.Now remember, I live off from reviews, and you are all thinking "here comes the stupid review speech that is added at the bottom of every stupid damn chapter of every stupid damn story!" but think of it this way, if you don't review, then how are we supposed to know if you like it or not? so please remember that every writer (well, almost) puts time into writing their story, so how hard is it to spend 30 seconds reviewing? Not that hard. So review please.

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	7. Cries of a Poor Little Muscular Girl

Oh my god! Another chapter! How amazing am I! I can't even describe how surprised I am! I don't remember a time when I posted three chapters in three days! It just doesn't happen! So, I obviously have no interesting story to tell you. My day has been consumed by nonstop writing so I have done nothing but that. So, you are probably all like "oh my god! I love ducky!" because this chapter heals all of those fighting boo-boos. Hehe, that sounds funny. So say thank you to the pretty little rubber ducky that is me. On with the wonderful story!

**Disclaimer: Let's see...nope, I still don't own anything. **

_A/N: Italics are flashbacks and thoughts. _

**Chapter 7: Cries of a Poor Little Muscular Girl**

_Luke and Rory had searched all over for the key but after 30 minutes of searching, they just gave up. He decided that it was just time to go up to bed. He said goodnight to Rory and then walked up the stairs. He could still hear crying from the room, but it didn't sound like a baby. He quietly made his way over to the door and peered through the two inch crack. He could see the outline of Lorelai lying on the bed, crying._

_"hey." he whispered slipping into the room. She looked at him quickly and then her face turned away. What was wrong with her? Luke asked himself._

_"Are you alright?" Luke asked quietly, aware of the fact that Jake was sleeping._

_"Sure Luke! I am lying her crying just for fun! Don't worry about me!" she retorted. She quickly got up and tried to get past Luke who was still blocking the doorway._

_"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently._

_"You! You are wrong, Luke! You never pay attention to your son in the middle of the night! It is always me! I get up, put him to bed. Come back, lay down, 20 minutes later, Jake wakes up and you just brush off my need for sleep! I am just so…so sick of it!" she said sobbing even harder now, getting out her words out through the sniffles._

_"What? I thought you were happy!" he whispered. He was astonished. She was always so happy! They had spent so much time together and she had always been happy! She had never shown any signs of her being depressed or unhappy! Where was this coming from?_

_"Wow! And I thought you would have learned by now what a good actor I am! Luke! I was happy! I was happy for about a week! And then life starts to shift back to normal, and you forget that you have a son! Yes Luke that is right! He is your son too! You need to take care of him too! You wonder why I am dead tired in the morning. It is because YOU won't help with Jake when he wakes up in the middle of the night!" she tried to make her yelling as quiet as possible, for fear that Jake would wake up again. "I need to have a partner in this Luke! Yes, I thought I could do it alone, but Jake is different than Rory was! Rory was always quiet! Rory was not hard to deal with, but Jake has shifted from that phase to the 'getting up every 2 hours phase'! I need some help in this Luke. I need you. I need to be able to say, 'gee, I haven't had any sleep in three days, can you please go put Jake back to sleep?' I need to be able to count on you Luke." she had made this speech in a soft whisper. _

_This had broken Luke's heart. He had caused this. He had done this. He had ignored the needs of both his son, and his…his Lorelai. He had not referred to her as his 'girlfriend' since he had come back and he didn't plan on it. She was much more than that. Rachel had been a girlfriend. Nicole had been a girlfriend--whether it was when they were married or not. Anna had been a girlfriend. Lorelai was worthy of a title with much more weight than 'girlfriend', but this wasn't the appropriate time for that. _

_"I'm sorry. I didn't know that this was hurting you so much." he responded in a caring tone. He reached out for her and she accepted. He took her into his embrace as she cried the rest of her tears into his shirt. "I'm sorry" he whispered again into her hair. He didn't know if she had heard that, but after that little break down, things had gotten better._

"Shit!" Luke said to himself. He had realized what was wrong when he had flashed back to that moment, the night before, and that morning. All three events added up to Lorelai feeling abandoned again.

"Caesar! I'll be back in an hour or two!" he yelled as he slammed his ordering pad onto the counter and rushed out the door. Everyone was stunned and wondering what had just happened.

----------------------------

Lorelai looked quickly at the clock. 12:45. "high ho, high ho. It's back to work we go." she sang unenthusiastically to herself as she walked into her office to get started on some paper work. At around 5 of 1:00, she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." she said not lifting her eyes up from her work. "What do you need?" she asked not realizing who it was.

"To tell you I am sorry."

"Luke?" she asked looking up. He was standing there. It looked like he had just been running.

"I am so sorry! I didn't mean to blow you off last night! I didn't realize I was doing it until about 20 minutes ago. I am so sorry." he said trying to stress the fact that he was truly sorry.

"It's ok…you were busy. I was just really tired, and…it's ok Luke."

"You sure?"

"I am sure. Did you run all the way here from the diner?" she said finally questioning why he was out of breath.

"yeah." he answered. Lorelai smiled.

"Just to tell me you were sorry?" she asked, her face still remaining the smile it had just given way to a few seconds ago. Luke slowly nodded. "That's sweet, but you didn't have to. You could have waited until later tonight." she said. She didn't mean it though, and both Luke and she knew that. She was glad that Luke didn't wait. She was glad that he had decided to leave his probably full diner to come and tell her something as simple--but powerful--as an 'I'm sorry'.

"No I couldn't have." he said as he cupped her face in his hands. He leaned in and kissed her. She quickly returned the favor, and soon she had her back pressed against the wall with Luke kissing her furiously. Lorelai had her hands running through his hair, while Luke had one hand pressed against the wall next to Lorelai's head and the other one playing with the hem of her shirt. He slowly moved it up until Lorelai suddenly pulled the hand away and pulled away from her lips.

"Damn work" she whispered with a smile on her face. Luke understood. They were at the inn, with people 5 feet from the door, some probably listening. This would not be a good time for any dirty acts to take place. "sorry." she said quietly. She pecked him on the lips and then led him out into the kitchen.

"Hey Sookie! I am going to take the rest of the day off."

"ok." she said. She had Jake in her arms.

"Sookie, I think I need you to hand over my son before I leave though." Lorelai said.

"Oh, sure." she said laughing at her own stupidity. She handed the small baby over to his mother. It took him a few seconds to realize who was holding him now, but when he did, a smile immediately spread across his face. Luke's face was overcome by one of those cheesy smiles that you only see at the end of a really good romantic movie. Lorelai also had a smile firmly planted upon her face, but hers was a little less picture perfect.

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"Where are we going?" Rory asked as she and her mother walked town the street.

"Well, I thought we could hit some of the stores while I was here helping you pack up some of your things. Remember that little boutique we saw the last time I was here?" she said looking sideways at her daughter. She had a smile that even the Cheshire Cat would envy.

"Yeah, but what about money? I don't have any, I happen to know for a fact that you don't have any, so where is this money coming from?" Rory asked. She sure is full of a lot of questions today isn't she? Lorelai thought in her head. Her smile now turned into a huge grin. Did she know something that Rory didn't?

"Luke!" she said enthusiastically.

"Luke?" she questioned.

"Luke!" she repeated.

"What about Luke?" Rory asked, apparently still confused.

"I stole his credit card!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"Mom! I am appalled!" Rory responded with an astonished 'what-the-hell-were-you-thinking?' look on her face.

"Well it was there!"

"Where? When?"

"well I was looking for my keys last night, and I thought 'maybe they are in Luke's pants!' so I go, and look, and they are there of course, but along with that was his wallet, which houses this lovely piece of plastic that I hold in my hand as we speak!" she said holding up the credit card.

"You can't spend Luke's money!" she argued.

"Hey! I gave birth to his kid! The least he can do is unknowingly lend me a couple hundred!" she pointed out.

"You didn't even ask him!"

"What is this? Kindergarten? Of course I didn't ask him! He would have said 'No'!" she said.

"But you live with him! This will eventually come back and bite you in the ass!"

"Example?"

"Well…he might not have enough money to buy coffee because he spent it all trying to pay YOUR bill on HIS credit card!" she said triumphantly.

"Ah, no. we would sell Jake into slavery before life got THAT bad. We might even sell Luke, but don't worry. We might get letters every once in a while saying how he was raped, beaten by some guy named Joe, and then stuffed into a canvas bag which traveled by train all the way to England to dump him in the Thames."

"Wouldn't he not be able to send a letter because he would have drowned?"

"but see, a very poor little muscular girl will drag the bag onto the shore and save his life, all for the low, low price of 19.99." she finished.

"Oh, ok. I get the plan now." Rory said. Her mother was not to be argued with.

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"Luke!" Lorelai yelled as she walked into the diner carrying 5 bags with her. "Luke!" she yelled again. She had just gotten back from helping Rory pack and their little shopping spree, funded by the stolen credit card. She set the bags on the counter and peered into the kitchen. No Luke. She then walked over to the store room. No Luke. "Where is he?" she asked herself.

She then heard a cry from upstairs. "Of course." she said as she ran up the stairs to find Luke.

She reached the top of the stairs and opened the door to the apartment. "Luke?" she inquired into the room.

"Lorelai? What are you doing here? I thought you went out with Rory?" he asked as he appeared from the side of the room.

"I did! And I stopped by here to give you back this." she said holding out the credit card.

"What? Where did you get this?" he asked.

"I stole it! From your pants! But don't worry; the strong little poor girl in England will save you!"

"What?" he was now confused. Yet again.

"Nothing. So where is Jake?" she asked changing the subject.

"He is over here," he said gesturing towards the bed was. "And I have been trying to get him to go to bed, but it is just not working!" he said frustrated.

"Oh, hun. I am sorry I left you to fend for yourself against the big bad 7 month old baby of ours." she teased. He gave her a look. "What! You are the only one that can't get him to sleep! You are just cursed! Like in that pirate movie! Only you are a lot hotter. And that movie kind of sucked." she said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Luke inquired.

"Oh, the movie Pirates of the--never mind. So, you go downstairs, I will grab Jake and the bag, I will go home, and then I will proceed to get him to sleep. Sound fun?" she asked. To everyone else, Lorelai always had the answers.

"Sure." Luke said, giving Lorelai a peck on the lips. "Oh, I'm going to be home early tonight." he added. After that little flare up five days ago he had been trying to give Lorelai more time to live a life besides work and Jake.

"Time?" Lorelai asked. He had been so sweet over the past few days. He had allowed her this time to go spend with Rory, while he watched Jake, he had been coming home earlier in the evening, and he had continued cooking her dinner every night.

"Ah, about three. So, in a few hours." he answered.

"Ok. So I will meet you downstairs." she said kissing him quickly and then going over to the crib set up in the apartment to get Jake.

---------------------

Lorelai walked down into the diner carrying Jake in one arm, with the diaper bag slung over the other.

"Hey hun. I'm goin' get going. Kiss for the open road?" Lorelai said as she walked behind the counter. Luke smiled. He could never resist an invitation. He unhurriedly moved towards her and placed his hands on her hips. He slowly leaned in for a peck on the lips. He repeated this twice before pulling back.

"How about I walk home with you, and I can carry the bags?" he suggested gesturing to the 5 bags that still lay on the counter. Lorelai smiled at this. _Sweeter everyday_, she thought.

"Sure!" she replied moving from behind the counter so that Luke could get to the bags, and eventually followed her out the door.

------------------------

As they walked, Lorelai decided to add some verbal thoughts to end the silence.

"Hey Luke?"

"Yeah?" he asked turning to look at her.

"This is nice isn't it? I mean you and me, getting over the little thing last week? I mean, we are able to leap that hurdle in our relationship." she clarified.

"Yeah, this is nice." he responded to her first question. He had been thinking the same exact thing. This was the perfect relationship. He didn't understand why he had let it go over a year ago. Oh yeah, Christopher. It was not that he hadn't trusted Lorelai; it was just that he knew he was fighting a battle that he couldn't handle. Lorelai had been fighting all her life and had been used to it, but Luke had not been prepared to go up against Christopher AND Emily. And plus, he didn't trust Christopher. He was a sneaky manipulative bastard. Well, so was Emily, but she wasn't the one that could possibly take Lorelai away from him.

"Luke, we're here." Lorelai said drawing Luke out of his thoughts.

"Ok. I'm just…going to put these in our room." he said, his previous thoughts still running through his head.

"Sure. I will see you in a few hours babe." she said kissing him and then heading towards Rory's room and Luke headed towards the stairs.

----------------------------

Ok, see how rewarding it is to review? I get my chapters up faster! So, please review. I don't want to have to attack you all with my angry mob or my penguins, but if I have to, I will. So review or they will come after you. Crackers are good. Just thought I would tell you. That and pop tarts. What kind of pop tarts do you guys like? So review please! The more reviews I get, the faster my chapters will be posted.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

AndI just did something interesting--I bit my lip. It really hurts. And now it's bleeding. well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. And I have a cold. I guess that's interesting. What do you think?


	8. Bananas and AnimalLike behavior

Ok, so I now know that I officially have no life. I have spent most of my day writing. As most of you know, I posted chapter 7 earlier today so this will be my second chapter in the past 12 hours. So, I demand you all get down on your knees and worship ducky! No, just thank me in your review. So my lip is better, it doesn't hurt anymore, but my cold is still there. Although, I do feel much better. I feel like I need a life. What do you all think? Maybe get myself a nice boy ducky. Huh? How does that sound? So, on with the story, that has no ending in sight. And I mean that. I can't come up with even the slightest idea of how I am going to end this, and that makes me worry. Do you like the title? I think it sounds a little dirty.

**Disclaimer: I think it would take more than12 hours to pull a bank job. **

_A/N: Italics are thoughts. _

**Chapter 8: Bananas and Animal-Like behavior **

"Mom, come on! Come with me!" Rory begged over the phone.

"No! I am not going!" Lorelai refused.

"But it'll be fun! You can bring Luke along! They haven't seen Luke in over a year! And they haven't seen Jake in over three months! Come on! For me?" Rory asked.

"Fine! But you will pay!" Lorelai said.

"Oh, but I will voluntarily pay. Thanks. So I will see you on Friday?" Rory asked.

"Yes. You will see all three of us on Friday." she said dramatically.

"Ok! Now you just have to run that past Luke! Remember that they were the reason you broke up last year. He might not be too keen on going." Rory added.

"I know! Just give me some time! I have my ways with that man." Lorelai said, hinting at sexual acts.

"Hanging up now!"

"Ok. Bye babe. Love you." Lorelai said into the cell phone.

"Love you too. Bye mom." Rory said and then both hung up. Lorelai gave a sigh. She was in the diner sitting at one of the tables trying to feed some food to Jake, but he kept spitting it out.

"Hey! More coffee?" Luke asked as he walked up. He didn't even wait for the response before pouring more liquid death in her cup. "What ya doing?" he asked Lorelai when he saw her struggling to stick a spoon of some sort in Jake's mouth.

"Well see, I am trying to feed your son, but he seems to hate these--" she glanced at the jar label "bananas." she finished.

"What?" Luke asked. He wasn't quite getting the 'if he spits it out he doesn't want it' factor in the situation.

"He keeps spitting it out. He is so my son!" she said excitedly.

"Because he won't eat bananas?" Luke asked.

"That and the fact that he loves his daddy." she said smiling at Luke. A cheesy grin appeared on Luke's face. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips.

"Eew! Get a room!" Kirk screamed from behind them.

"Ah, Kirk, need I remind you that you make out _all_ the time all over the town? Remember last time?" she responded.

"Yes." Kirk said gloomily as he turned around to pick and stare at the food in front of him.

"Now where were you?" Lorelai smiled seductively.

"I was about to take your order." Luke answered knowing that was not the answer she was looking for.

"Luke! You're no fun anymore!" she complained swatting his chest with her free arm. "Plus I need to talk to you about something." she said changing the subject. He looked worried. _Was something wrong? _He thought. He sat down across from her as she gave up with her attempts to stuff the mashed bananas in Jake's mouth. She placed the spoon on the napkin in front of her and screwed the cover onto the jar of baby food.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked in a concerned tone. Lorelai picked up on the worry in his voice.

"Oh, it's nothing serious, but I wanted to warn you that we are going to my parents house this Friday." she asked. _God I hope he doesn't freak! _She thought to herself.

"Um…ok. Did they specifically invite us or are we just going over?" he asked. He was oddly calm about this.

"Ah, well Rory sort of talked me into it because she is sick of spending two hours talking nonstop." she answered. "I am going to call them tomorrow to tell them that we are coming though." she added quickly. _Why isn't he mad? The last time he saw them, my mother was sabotaging our relationship._ "You sure you're ok with this?" she asked. _Better get it all out now rather than the five minute period of time we spend standing in front of the door trying to get ourselves to just ring the bell._ She thought.

"Yeah, I mean, it is not my first choice of places to make dinner reservations at, but why not? I haven't seen them in over a year. Plus they have to get used to me being apart of their family." he said smiling. _Is he insinuating that he wants to get married or something?_ Lorelai asked herself. She was just so full of inner questions, but she smiled back. This was her idea anyways right? She was the one that decided to bring Luke along right?

"So it's settled! Friday at the Gilmore's!" she said faking excitement.

----------------------

"Rory! Lorelai shouted throughout her house. "Rory!" she shouted again as she walked over to the kitchen. All of sudden, Rory's door swung open and she popped out into the kitchen. Lorelai grabbed her heart.

"What?" she asked.

"Are you trying to kill mommy?" Lorelai said removing her hand from her chest.

"Yes. Did it work?" Rory answered casually.

"Yes it did. So me and Luke are going now." she said. Rory finally noticed the dress that her mother was wearing._ She told me something about having somewhere to be on Thursday night. _Rory thought.

"Is tonight Thursday?" Rory asked. She couldn't remember these things right now.

"Why yes it is dear child of mine. As I was saying, Luke and I are leaving. With Jake of course, but we won't be back until later tonight. What time do you plan on leaving?" she asked. Rory had stayed for a night at the Crap Shack, and was now going to go see some of her friends in Hartford.

"Ah, probably 10, because they are having a party and I don't want to miss everything." she answered.

"Ok, well then I most likely won't see you until tomorrow! Ah! Damn Friday! Why did I agree to going there again?" she asked.

"Because you love me. And grandma hasn't seen Jake in while." Rory answered.

"Right, right. Why does Jake need to see grandma?" she asked.

"Go! Out! Now! Go enjoy yourself lady!" Rory said as she pushed Lorelai towards the door.

"Hey, hey! I still need to get your little brother who is up with his father who is probably putting the diaper on the wrong way--again!" she said dramatically.

"Well then go get both of them and then go. You said that whoever you are going to see is anxious to see Jake, so be nice and go parade him around." Rory said.

"Like in a dog show?" Lorelai asked.

"Ah! You are comparing my little brother to a dog now! I am appalled! I share half my genes with him!" she said.

"Yes, but maybe it is the Luke section of the genes that make him like a dog. I have noticed an animal like side of Luke these past three months." Lorelai said with a smirk of her face.

"Oh gross! Why do you insist on giving me nightmares?" she asked. She was now disturbed more than she ever had been.

"Ok, ready." Luke said as he can walking down the stairs carefully. Even after three months he was still terrified of dropping Jake.

"Ok. I'll be out in a sec hun." she said to Luke as he headed for the door.

"By babe." Lorelai said as she kissed Rory on the cheek. "See you tomorrow." she said after her and Rory hugged. She then headed out the door out to the jeep.

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I feel pretty! Oh so pretty! So, what do you all think? I know, short, but hey, remember, 12 hours. So, please tell me what you think. Do you have any suggestions? Any ideas that you want me to put into this fic in the future? Any guesses as to what is going to happen in the future of this fic? And Robin, if you are reading this, the last one does not apply to you! So, please review. Maybe I will update again sometime soon if you do.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	9. Carrot hater No More

Well would you look at that! It actually decided to upload today! I went to upload this chapter yesterday and the site wouldn't let me. I was extremely angry and I even ranted a bit. So, how is everyone's day? Mine is just great. I have a nice little story to tell you. Yesterday, I wanted to change social studies classes because I am having a huge problem with all but one of the other students in my class. So I went to my counselor who directed me to the head of the social studies department. I asked him and he said there shouldn't be a problem but that I should just check in with him in the morning. So this morning, I go into his office and he tells me that my teacher doesn't want me to leave the class because I am one of the two who actually does my work and pays attention. He then tells me that I can request to switch if I want to, but he wants me to wait a week! It is driving me insane. I can never concentrate in that class because of these three guys that sit next to me. They are always talking and listening to music, and when I asked them politely if they could just be quiet for a few minutes, and they were completely rude to me! And then we have 'brunette Barbie' over in the corner with her two little idiot guys who sit there staring at her as if a chance with her is like ruling the world. I am sorry, but am I the only one that sees a problem with this situation?

Sorry, I had to vent/rant. It beats bottling it up and then stabbing someone with a pencil on Monday. So, I would really like to thank my reviewers. Anyone who doesn't review but does read, I do not plan on thanking you any time soon. Wow am I in a fowl mood! So I am stuck in my room, contemplating how my day could get any worse. I have come up with a few things like "get my arm chopped off by my mother while she is randomly throwing knives through the house" and "go blind because the shampoo I am using is actually a dangerous chemical that my sister replaced it with as a practical joke" and some others, but they all are pretty much the same. On with the story!

**Disclaimer: if I really owned anything, do you really think that I would need to go to a public school where I can't even switch a simple social studies class? **

_A/N: Flashbacks are in italics. oh, and so are thoughts. Can't forget those, they do like to pop into our heads occasionally. _

**Chapter 9: Carrot hater No More **

"Sniffy's! We're here Jakey! Now remember, you need to embarrass daddy as much as possible in there, ok?" she asked Jake. Luke glared at her. "Don't pay any attention to him! He just doesn't understand us banana-haters." she said. That seemed to be one of the fruits that Jake refused to eat along with prunes (which Lorelai insisted that no one should voluntarily eat) and pears.

"Stop poisoning his mind." Luke insisted.

"Daddy! Stop being a pickle-puss!" she said smiling at her new found word. _Dirty!_ She thought to herself. Yes, it definitely was. Luke just gave her another look. "Fine, let's go." she said getting out of the jeep. She then got Jake out, Luke grabbed the diaper bag (which again was magical and went wherever Jake went) and then they both walked into the restaurant.

----------------------------

"Lorelai!" Maisy shouted excitedly as she ran over to greet the small family. "And this must me Jake. Why, he looks like you Lucas!" she concluded as she looked him over. Luke's face turned ten shade of red in embarrassment.

"Good job! And not even two minutes in!" she whispered in Jake's ear just load enough so that Luke could hear her.

"Why don't you come sit down and I can have a look at this little one." she suggested as she gestured to Jake.

"Ok. Come on Lucas." she said to Luke. He glared at her. "Hey, If she can, then I can too!" she said to him. Maisy then lead them over to the booth.

"Just go sit." he said. "You are some work." he said, but he was smiling the whole time.

"Oh, you would know." she said hinting at their bedroom activities.

"Oh geez. Can you think of anything for more than two seconds?"

"You complain now and you won't get any tonight." she threatened. Luke, Lorelai, and Jake (who was being held by Lorelai still) all got into the booth while Maisy went off to get Buddy.

"Not in public please." he begged.

"Luke, were you told the stork version of the origin of babies because I assure you that is not where this little guy came from." she said referring to Jake while lightly bouncing him up and down on her knee while he chewed on her thumb. He now had three teeth with one more poking through, but Lorelai didn't mind. Luke however, was a different story.

_"Lorelai! Lorelai!" Luke voice echoed through the house. He was sitting on the couch holding six month old Jake on his lap. "We have to go!" he yelled again. She then came into view as she bounded down the stairs. _

_"What?" she asked._

_"We have to go." he repeated._

_"Where?" she asked. She had no idea what he was talking about. _

_"The doctor's office." he answered. _

_"Oh shoot! I forgot. Hold on. Let me get my coat" she said as she ran to the foyer. Thankfully she was dressed to a degree of normalcy. "Ok, let's go!" she said. _

_"Just grab the--OW!" he interjected. _

_"What happened?" Lorelai asked worriedly. _

_"He bit me!" _

_"Who bit you?" _

_"Jake bit me!" he answered staring at his index finger. _

_"He…bit you? That was your big 'OW'?" she asked. Underneath all that muscle, there was a weak wimp that surfaced every once in a while. "Oh you big baby. You want me to kiss you boo-boo?" she asked while laughing._

_"It hurt! Has he ever bitten you?" he asked irritated at how she didn't believe him._

_"Ah yeah. Numerous times babe. Like the other day. Remember when you walked in to the house to hear me swearing?" she asked. Luke nodded. "Yeah, well that was because I was breast feeding him and he bit my boob. So yes, he has bitten me before. Look, the skin wasn't broken so let's just go, and I will give it a kiss later. Interested?" she asked seductively. Luke just grinned and kissed her. "So that's a yes?" she asked. _

_"yes." he answered and leaned in for another kiss. "Ow!" he yelled as he pulled away quickly. _

_"What finger was it this time?" Lorelai asked. _

"Look Buddy! Isn't he just the spitting image of Lucas here?" Maisy asked, interrupting the little conversation that Luke and Lorelai had been having in Maisy's absence.

"He sure is!" Buddy answered.

"May I hold him?" Maisy asked politely while holding out her arms.

"Sure!" Lorelai answered and then handed him over.

"Buddy would you mind running and getting these fine kids some food?" Maisy asked. Lorelai had been surprised the first time that she had been referred to as a 'kid' but had now gotten used to it.

"Sure, what do you guys want?" Buddy asked.

"Hhhmm, well we get a choice now do we?" Lorelai asked.

"Just for now! Latter on us will give you no choice!" Maisy laughed.

"Ok well I will have--" Lorelai looked at the menu. _I wonder if they have any apples. Or maybe some carrots. That sounds good! Why am I having these weird cravings? _Lorelai asked herself. All of a sudden she looked up from the menu with a shocked expression on her face. "Oh god!" she exclaimed.

"What? What is it?" Luke asked her, obviously quite concerned.

"Ah…Luke you order, I have to…ah, I have to call Rory." she stuttered.

"You ok?" Luke asked while rubbing her back.

"Yeah, don't worry. I just forgot to tell her something. I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm fine hun." she reassured him. She then got up from the booth and walked outside. _Maybe the combination of some fresh air and that call to Rory will calm me down. _She thought to herself. As she stood outside in the cool muggy summer air, she pulled out her phone. She pressed a couple of buttons and then held the phone up to her ear.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. "You have reached Luke Danes, Lorelai Gilmore--" Luke voice rang through the phone.

"And sometimes Rory!" Lorelai's yell could be heard from the background.

"And sometimes Rory. Please leave a message--" he continued but was again interrupted.

"Luke! Where is my underwear? I can't find any!" Lorelai's questions were heard shouting from the background.

"I did some laundry last night! Try in the dryer! So anyways, leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible." Luke finished. BEEP!

"Damn it! Where are you?" Lorelai yelled at her phone. She tried her house again. Nothing. "Where the hell are you?" Lorelai yelled at her phone again in frustration. She then decided to call Rory's cell phone. "God I hope you remembered to charge it kid!" she said to herself.

"Hello?" Rory answered.

"Finally! Rory! Mommy has been trying to get a hold of you for the past ten minutes! Where are you?" she asked quickly.

"Ah, I just got out of the house about twenty minutes ago. I am in Doose's right now picking up some food for the road." she said calmly picking up random foods of the shelf to read what they were. "Wait, why were you trying to reach me?" she said finally snapping out of her state of food label concentration. "Did Luke and you get into an accident? Is Jake ok? Are you ok?" she asked as she started to freak out.

"No hun. Nothing like that. But I…I uh…while trying to decide what to eat tonight at the restaurant I told you about--" she started.

"But I thought you told me that they don't let you pick what you eat there or something." Rory recalled from her memory.

"Well I guess tonight is special tonight, so any ways, I was staring at the menu, and I got cravings for carrots." she let out. _Rory is a smart kid. She can deduct things right? _Lorelai asked herself.

"But you hate carrots!" Rory stated in astonishment.

"I know! And the last time I craved carrots was the same time I was craving apples. Lots and lots of apples." she stated. _Come on Rory, dig deep down in you knowledge of mommy's weird habits and cravings! _She yelled in her head.

"And…?" Rory inquired. _Why was this so important? Was she supposed to remember something? Apples. That rang a bell, but why did that ring a bell? When did she remember this from? _Rory asked herself.

"Come on Rory! You know me better than Luke does! The last time I wanted carrots or apples was when I was pregnant for Jake! There! Ringing any bells? God when did this happen? Why? What is Luke going to say?" she said finally verbalizing the question that had been pestering her since the little carrot craving arose.

"Wow! Slow down! You don't know that you are pregnant yet! So stop freaking out about Luke, and how this happened! Calm down." Rory said trying to calm her mother down.

"Ok, calming down now." Lorelai said breathing out. "Rory, do you want to do mommy a favor before I go stick my head in a toilet?" she asked referring to the nervousness she felt. Butterflies were swimming around in her stomach while she felt like the birds must be flying in a ring around her head. Did she want another child? Jake wasn't that old and it might be too soon. But what if she was pregnant? What would she tell Luke? 'Hey Luke, I'm pregnant, get ready for the world of never ending emotions.'? No, she couldn't do that. She knew he wouldn't leave though. If he would have, he would have left when he found out about Jake. If I am pregnant, Luke will get to be there at every doctor's appointment, he would be there to hold her hand through labor. He might even cry when he first saw his child. Lorelai smiled at the thought.

"Sure mom, what do you need?" Rory asked pulling Lorelai out of her thoughts.

"Can you pick me up a pregnancy test and then drop it off at the house?" she asked.

"Sure, but what if Luke sees it? Do you want him to see it? Are you going to tell him before you get home?" Rory asked.

"A lot of questions there kid! Can you just put it in you room somewhere where Luke won't see it?"

"Ah, under the bed?" Rory asked.

"Under the bed is fine and I won't tell Luke until we get a positive yes." she told Rory.

"But what if it is negative?" Rory asked. _Negative? I didn't think of that. What if it is? I don't really feel ready for another kid do I? Do I? _Lorelai asked herself.

"Ah, well, ah, I guess Luke doesn't need to know." she stated sadly. _I do feel ready. I want another baby!_ Lorelai screamed in her head. She smiled again at this thought.

"Ok, well then I am going to go, you go back to Luke wherever you guys are, and I will pick up that thing. Ok?" Rory asked.

"Sounds good. Thanks babe. Bye. Love ya." Lorelai said.

"Bye mom." Rory said. They both hung up the phone. Lorelai gave out a sigh and walked back into Sniffy's.

------------

Rory however grabbed some Twinkies, a pregnancy test, the rest of her food for the road, and then headed towards the check-out desk.

"Good evening young lady. How are you this fine summer night?" Taylor asked in his usual 'I seem as if I just have sniffed some paint' kind of manner.

"Just fine. Taylor, can you hurry up? I have somewhere to be and I now have to make another stop. So please, just stop reading everything that is in the basket?" Rory said. She was a little fidgety at that moment. _I might have another little brother or sister. _She thought.

"Why are you in such a hurry young lady? That's what's wrong with you younger people nowadays; you are always rushing to get something done." he said in a disapproving tone. Rory just glared at him. "Fine, but you know that one day--what is this?" Taylor asked noticing the pregnancy test.

"Oh…ah, it's just for…" Rory tried to come up with an excuse quickly.

"And that's another thing! You are always out partying, and drinking, and having sex!"

"Well Pleasantville came out of their ignorance too; it was bound to happen here." Rory retorted.

"What?" Taylor asked.

"Just finish up Taylor." she said. _I have to go! _She thought to herself.

"Here you go, you have a good evening, and remember, next time, be more careful." he said, the last comment referring to the pregnancy test. She just rolled her eyes and paid him the money. He held out the bag full of food, and of course, the pregnancy test, and she walked to her car. She hopped in and headed for home.

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So who thought "ooo? She's pregnant!" right away? Huh? Come on, tell me! So, what do you think? It seems short to me, but it is actually four pages--the average length of my chapters. So, what do you think is going to happen? Predictions are greatly appreciated. I want to know how much you know me. And my writing. Please review. I just realized that is the number one thing that could make my day worse. You could not review. That thought makes me sad. And depressed, which has probably been stated in every other chapter, but this is true. I just feel like crying right now. Please review.


	10. Pushing Buttons and Doorbells

Yay! I was actually having some issues with trying to write this but I got it done for you! Yay! And I am feeling a lot better now. Aren't you all happy that I am getting another chapter up so soon? Well you won't be once you read this. Hmmm, I think that I need to thank someone now. And I have to go with epona9009. I am so glad to have you as a reviewer and I just thought I should publicly thank you. You are about 50 of what keeps me writing these. The other half I think is because of my boredom. But you are just a wonderful person and I thought you should know that.

And I would also like to point out how this chapter was going to be half the length it is now, so I expect some 'thank you's for that.

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Never have, probably never will. **

_Italics are thoughts. And boy, are there a lot of them in this chapter!_

**Chapter 10: Pushing Buttons and Doorbells**

Lorelai walked back to the booth, only to see everyone laughing and smiling--even Jake. _God! How was she going to tell Luke? Maybe I could just try and act as if nothing is wrong. Yeah, maybe that will work. _She thought to herself.

"Hey, you sure you're ok?" Luke asked. He could tell that she was having some sort of battle inside her head, but he didn't know why. _What was she doing out there? She said she had to call Rory, but that is her answer for everything. What was she really doing out there?_

"Yeah, so what have I missed?" Lorelai asked, quickly changing the subject. Luke noticed this. Luke stood up to allow her to slide into her original place on the seat.

"We were just discussing some stories of little Jake here. Luke is barely giving anything away though. We were just talking about a shoe I believe?" Maisy asked, more than said, as she glanced towards Luke for an answer.

"Oh, are you talking about the shoe he chewed on the other day?" Lorelai asked. She seemed nervous. She thought she was hiding it very well but Luke could see it in her eyes. He slid closer and put his arm around her shoulder. Lorelai noticed this, but she just brushed it off as a loving gesture. _Loving? Where did that come from? _She thought to herself. _Why do I always doubt the level of feelings that Luke has for me? Why do I always doubt the level of feelings I have for HM? What is wrong with me? Maybe if I am pregnant, I can blame it on the hormones. _She added to her little conversion in her head. She smiled and Luke just squeezed her shoulder thinking that this was what made her smile.

"Yes! That was it! So whose shoe was that?" Maisy asked.

"Ah, it was mine." Lorelai said cheerfully while picking at her food.

"Is something wrong?" Luke asked Lorelai, removing his arm from around her to look her straight in the eyes; it was the only way he could tell if she was lying or not. What was wrong with her? He would normally just wait for her to tell him, but this time it was different. She looked as if she was having difficulty staying next to him.

"What?" she asked.

"You're not eating your food." he said waving his had towards her dish. In front of her. It had obviously been put there while she was outside.

"So? I'm just not feeling well." she said looking down at her food. _Well that's half true right? _She did feel a little nauseous.

"You weren't sick earlier." Luke pointed out. He knew she was lying so he wanted to know what was really troubling her.

"Well, I'm sick now." she said, continuing to pick at her food. _And why can't he leave it alone? Why can't he just accept that for an answer?_

"Are you ok?" Luke asked. Snap! what was his problem? Could he not hear right? She didn't want to talk about it. Why did he have to push the issue? Why?

"Luke, just…leave it! Ok?" she said forcefully. Hopefully this makes him understand that I don't want to talk about it. Can't I run my own life without him trying to make me confess everything I am keeping from him?

"What is wrong with you?" he asked with an astonished look on his face. Lorelai's mouth hung open. Why was he pushing this so far? He had always been one to let her come to him, not the other way around.

"Nothing!" she yelled again.

"Well something definitely is wrong, you haven't eaten anything, you look nervous. What are you not telling me?" he yelled back. Shock filled Lorelai's face. Luke was yelling. At her. Was he accusing her of cheating on him? Was he thinking that was why she was outside on the phone for ten minutes?

"I can't deal with this now." she said getting up. Maisy and buddy had been watching attentively, but tried to hide their interest. Maisy immediately got up when she saw that Lorelai would probably turn the table over to just get out. Lorelai quickly got out of the booth. "I'm going home. I'll catch a cab, you bring Jake home." she said to Luke. She then turned to Maisy. "Thanks so much. I had a really nice time, and I promise the next time we come here, we will bring Jake again." she said sincerely. _Because that is the only reason we will be coming back_. She thought to herself. She then grabbed her coat and walked out. Luke got up and ran after her.

"Lorelai! Lorelai! Come back in! Please! Just tell me what's wrong! LORELAI!" he yelled the last one. Lorelai turned around when she heard the harshness in his voice.

"What do you want Luke? Maybe some things in my life aren't apart of yours! You don't have any right to make me tell you anything that does not have to do with our son!" she yelled back. Tears started to stream down her face. "It's not like we're married or anything! God Luke! Just…whatever. I'm leaving. See you at home." she said turning around and dialing the phone number to the cab company.

"Lorelai! Please, I just want to know what is bothering you!" he said trying to be as sincere as possible. They were silent for three minutes. "Lorelai?" Luke said from behind her. He had been waiting for a response but he couldn't wait any longer. "What's wrong?" he asked. Just then a cab pulled up and Lorelai started walking towards it. "Lorelai, just tell me what is wrong." he said as he followed her.

"Luke, I'm leaving. I will see you at home, go back in, and finish dinner with Maisy and Buddy." she said and then got into the cab, which she then directed towards her house.

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_What the hell am I doing? _She asked herself as she got into the cab. _Why am I acting like this? Why is he acting like this? Why did this have to happen now? Why is this happening? We were happy, and had balanced our lives out, but now everything is falling apart_. A tear streamed down her face like a river, carrying all of the sediment of her makeup. _Why can't things just go back? Wait, this isn't my fault. He was the one that was prying. But he loves me, why shouldn't he be worried about me? Because he knows that I will tell him what is wrong when I feel ready! He should know this! After almost ten years--but he was gone for one of them--he should know that! I shouldn't have to tell him anyways. It's not like we are married or engaged. But you want to be. So? What does it matter? So, I want to be married to the man I love! Is that so hard to believe? And there is that 'love' word again. I do love him. Why can't I just tell him? Why? Because you run. If you tell him, he will tell you the same thing, and then you will get scared of too much commitment, and run. NO! I will not run! Yes you will. Stop! I will not run! Then what are you doing now? _

Lorelai just sat there in the back of the cab thinking about that last question that the pessimistic voice in her head had asked. "Then what am I doing now?" she whispered silently. Her eyes started to well up with more tears. She needed to talk to someone, but she couldn't call Rory. Rory would feel the need to drop everything to come help her mother. Lorelai couldn't ruin Rory's plans. Sookie. She would ask to be dropped off at Sookie's house.

"Can you just pull over here please?" Lorelai asked the driver as they came up to the front of Sookie's house. Oh god! Did this bring back memories or what?

"Here you go miss." Lorelai smiled when she heard the driver say this. She was a 'miss'. Lorelai paid the cab driver and got out. She walked up to Sookie's door and rung the bell. _It must be around quarter of eleven now. _She thought.

"Hold on!" Lorelai heard a yell from inside. It didn't sound tired; that was a good sign. "Lorelai. What are you doing here? What's wrong?" Sookie said as she answered the door and noticed the lack of Luke and the tear and makeup stained face of her best friend.

"Can I come in?" Lorelai asked quietly.

"Sure, sure." Sookie said as she stepped aside to allow Lorelai into the house. She closed he door behind Lorelai and then turned to face her friend. "Lorelai, what happened? Where's Luke?" she asked. She was extremely concerned for Lorelai. The last time she had seen her like this was over three months ago--because of Luke and her had gotten into a fight. Two of them for that matter.

"Ah, he is at the restaurant with Jake, and Maisy, and Buddy." she said quietly. She sounded like she was having concentrating and keeping herself together. Sookie had no clue who Maisy and buddy were but she would save that question for another day.

"So what happened?" she asked sincerely as she led Lorelai over to the couch.

"I ah…I think I'm pregnant." she said to Sookie. Sookie's concerned look turned immediately to shock and surprise.

"Isn't that good?" Sookie asked.

"It would be, but I don't know for sure. I was going to wait until after I took a pregnancy test to tell Luke. Of course only if I was pregnant, so I called Rory to ask if she could drop one off at the house, and then I went back inside." she started the tale. Sookie could sense that this is where it would get bloody. "so, then Luke asks why I am not eating my food, which of course is because I am thinking about things, and he keeps asking and asking, until I finally snapped. I yelled at him to leave me alone, and then he still kept pushing the issue, so I just got up and left." Lorelai said as more tears poured down her face.

"Oh Hunny." Sookie said trying to comfort her friend. She then got up to go get some tissues.

When Sookie left there was a knock on the door. Lorelai slowly got up to get it.

"Who is it?" Lorelai asked before opening the door.

"Lorelai! It's me! Let me in!" Lorelai heard Luke's voice.

"What are you doing here Luke?" she asked harshly.

"I am here to talk to you. Please Lorelai, at least give me five minutes." he pleaded. _He at least deserves that_. Lorelai told herself.

Lorelai slowly unlocked the door. "Five minutes" she said as she let him in.

"Lorelai, I couldn't find any tissues, but I have some--" Sookie said and then looked up to see that Lorelai wasn't alone. "Toilet paper." she finished. "I'm just going to go make something to eat, so you two can talk." Sookie said as she quickly rushed to the kitchen.

"Luke, where's Jake?" she asked.

"Well I rushed home the moment that you left, and when I got there, Rory was just coming out of her room--" Lorelai froze at this. _Did he know?_ "And I asked her to keep an eye on him while I rushed over here to see if you were here." he answered. _He didn't say anything about a pregnancy test, so maybe he didn't know._

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lorelai asked coldly. _It was his fault they were in this situation. His fault!_

"I'm sorry about earlier. I just…I was worried about you. That's all." he said.

"Well if that was all, then why did you yell at me as if you caught me cheating on you or something? Why did yell at me so harshly? Why Luke? Why don't you see that maybe sometimes I need to be able to think about things before I can tell anyone? Why do we always end up in some sort of misunderstanding?" she asked him.

"I didn't yell at you as if you were cheating! I was worried about you. Is that so hard to understand Lorelai? That maybe sometimes people who love each other care and worry about each other!" he was now yelling. He had no idea how his anger rose this high, but it had. Lorelai had heard that word: 'love'. Oh no, am I going to run? Am I? An uneasy feeling erupted in the bottom of her stomach. She felt as if she was going to vomit. Oh no. she quickly got up and raced to the bathroom. _What the hell? _Luke thought.

Sookie then walked in carrying a tray of assorted snacks. "Where's Lorelai?" she asked.

"She ran to the bathroom. Maybe she really is sick." Luke said. Sookie immediately knew what was wrong, but if Lorelai didn't want to tell Luke now, then who was Sookie to go against that wish.

"Um…I'm going to see if she needs anything, you just wait there." She said to Luke as she rushed to the bathroom. "Lorelai, are you in there?" Sookie asked as she knocked on the door. She heard some splashing water and then some coughing. "You ok. Hun?" she asked.

"No." Lorelai said. Sookie took this as permission to enter the bathroom. She found her friend sitting against the wall opposite the toilet. Lorelai had her head in hands. "How am I going to tell him Sookie? You heard what happened out there! Am I just supposed to go out there and say 'hey Luke, I'm pregnant, happy father's day'?" Lorelai asked. She had been running these thoughts over in her head for the past few minutes. She could tell she was pregnant. There was no doubt about it; she didn't need some stupid test to tell her. But what if she was wrong? What if she was just going crazy? What if she wanted another baby so bad that she was just thinking she was pregnant?

"Well it is coming up soon." Sookie joked. "Plus you don't even know if you are pregnant. This could just be some really bad bug or something." Sookie added when she saw how serious Lorelai was being.

"Yeah, maybe. Maybe I should just take the test first. Hey Sookie?" Lorelai knew she couldn't stay at home. She couldn't sleep with Luke there knowing that he didn't trust her.

"Yeah?" Sookie answered as Lorelai stood up and wiped her mouth with a piece of toilet paper.

"Would it be possible for me to stay the night? Here I mean." Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, sure. Anything you need. What about Luke?" Sookie asked. How was Lorelai going to tell him that she wasn't going home? And then how were they going to get rid of him?

"I'll go deal with him now. Let me just clean up first." Lorelai said gesturing towards the toilet that still held some of the contents of her dinner.

"Ok." Sookie answered as she exited the bathroom. Lorelai took the five minutes that she had alone in the bathroom to think of what she was going to do.

She then walked out to the living room. There was Luke. He was still sitting there. He was sitting with his elbows propped up, one on each knee, with his head in his hands.

"Luke?" Lorelai said quietly. His head immediately shot up and he stood up just as fast.

"You ok?" he asked worriedly. Lorelai smiled. No matter how much she and he had fought, he had always cared.

"I'm fine. Just the stupid bug I was talking to you about. So, you should get back home. You know, let Rory off babysitting duty. She does have that life she has to get back to." Lorelai laughed. Luke gave her a puzzled look.

"But what about you?" he asked.

"I'm going to spend the night here." she said slowly as placed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.

"Lorelai, if you don't want to spend the night in the same house as me, then I can stay at the apartment." he suggested. In no way did he think that she should be kicked out of her own house.

"It's ok Luke. I just…I just need some time to think. You go, I'll call Rory up and tell her that you'll be there soon, and we can talk about this in the morning." Luke started to say something until Lorelai stopped him. "In the morning Luke. Goodnight." she said as she turned away from him and walked into the kitchen to join Sookie. Luke just stood there speechless. What was that all about? Lorelai had acted so calm, but that had only made it worse for Luke. What was she thinking? What was going to happened to them? Luke couldn't get these questions out of his mind. The only thing he could do was to do what Lorelai had asked. So he left.

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So who wants to kill Ducky? I know that there are some of you out there who think my drama is wonderful, but what of the other group of my readers? I wonder. Well tell me what you think please. Even if it is a quick 30 second review (although longer is appreciated). Please review!

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	11. Blue Plus Pink Equals Lorelai

Ok, so ducky is having some difficulties with uploading. Thanks to one of my wonderful reviewers, I now know how to get my chapter up without uploading. That makes me happy. So who likes the fact that I am posting a new chapter, yet again? I bet I can name a few of you who are like 'Yay! We don't have to wait another week!'. Well I am glad you don't have to wait another week for this chapter. I don't have much to say so on with the chapter!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except for my socks which have Tinker Bell on them.**

_Italics are thoughts. _

**Blue+Pink Equals Lorelai**

(A/N: Hehe, purple is the color you turn when you can't breathe. So it works out rather well don't you think?)

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Lorelai had found her purse on the table in the kitchen; she dug through it and found her phone. She quickly dialed the number to her house, Rory answered within the first two rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe. Luke just left, so don't worry, he'll be home soon so you can go live your real life!" Lorelai said excitedly. She didn't know why, but she just was putting on this face for Rory. She was actually being torn apart on the inside by all of her emotions.

"What about you? Where are you?" Rory asked. She sounded worried.

"I'm spending the night at Sookie's. Which reminds me. Can you bring by the test on your way out of town?" Lorelai asked.

"Ah…sure. What happened between you two?" Rory asked. _That's right! Rory hasn't heardabout mommy's little flip out! _Lorelai thought to herself.

"I'll tell you when you get here. So can you bring it by?" Lorelai asked.

"Sure. Oh, Luke's home. Gotta go. See you in a bit mom." Rory said as a door closing was heard in the background.

"Bye babe. Love ya." Lorelai replied.

"Love ya too. Bye." Rory said back and then they both hung up.

Rory then threw the phone onto the couch and walked towards her room to grab the pregnancy test. She could see that Luke looked extremely hurt. What had happened?

"Hey Luke."

"Ah...hey Rory. Was that your mom?" he asked referring to the phone call.

"Ah…yeah, why?" she asked.

"Oh, ah, no reason. Just curious." he answered.

"Ok." Rory said. She stood there waiting for Luke to say something else but he just proceeded to take off his jacket. She decided that Luke wasn't going to reveal anything so she would just go get the test. She made sure to grab her purse before walking into the room and then left Luke to fend for himself against his boots which were obviously causing him some trouble at the time.

Once she had grabbed the test and shoved it into her purse, she walked out of her room, making sure that the test was not visible.

"Hey Rory?" Luke directed at her as she exited her room and shut the door. She jumped out of shock.

"Ah! Oh my god Luke! You scared me. What do you need?" she asked.

"Well…I baked these earlier today…for your mom, but considering the situation…I was wondering if you would mind giving them to her on your way out of town." Luke asked hesitantly as he held up a freezer bag full of brownies. _What if Lorelai just throws them in the trash? What if she refuses to eat them? What did I do to screw this up? _He asked himself.

"Sure. And I'm sorry Luke. I don't know what's going on between you and mom, but it'll get better. She'll probably come over tomorrow morning to talk." she comforted. She could tell how hurt he was. She just wished she knew what was wrong and what had happened between Luke and her mother. She wished she could help in some way. But that was her mother's choice. No matter how much she wanted to, she had to let her mother handle this situation with Luke.

"I know. I'll be fine for tonight. You just go see your friends." he tried to mask his pain but it didn't work, Rory could see it in his eyes.

"You sure?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. Go, have fun." he said gesturing to the door.

"Ok, but I was going to spend some time with Jake tomorrow so I will come by around noon. So if you can't come to dinner, then I'll just take him." she said. All of a sudden it hit him. They were supposed to go to Friday night dinner tomorrow. He had forgotten all about, and chances were that so did Lorelai.

"Ah, sure. Could you just remind your mom of the dinner tomorrow, I don't think she remembers." he suggested politely.

"Sure. Bye Luke." Rory said sweetly with a little smile on her face. She then left the house and headed for Sookie's.

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"Rory!" Sookie yelled as she ran out to greet the 21 year old.

"Hey Sookie!" Rory responded in the same illuminating tone that Sookie had had in her greeting. Sookie embraced Rory until Rory felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore. "I…can't…breathe." Rory slowly let out. Sookie immediately let go.

"Sorry, I'm just so glad to see you!" she responded in giggles.

"How's mom?" Rory asked as she quickly changed the subject.

"Ah…well, it depends on how you look at it. From a normal persons point of view, fine." Sookie replied cautiously, trying not to cause Rory to freak out.

"And to me and you?"

"Well, she seems a little detached now. Come on in. see for yourself." Sookie encouraged when she saw the disbelieving face that stood in front of her.

They walked to the front door and Sookie opened it. She held it open until Rory was inside and then Sookie followed her. They both walked into the living room to see Lorelai staring at her cup of coffee that was in her hands. She had not taken a single sip and just held it against her bottom lip.

"Mom?" Rory said, trying to pull her mother out of her state of fascination in her cup of coffee. It worked; Lorelai looked up quickly to see Rory standing there with a worried look upon her face. Lorelai immediately put on a smile for Rory.

"Hey sweets. Come sit." Lorelai encouraged, patting the empty spot next to her on the couch. Rory sat next to her mother hesitantly. "So, what's been happening. Hey, what are those?" Lorelai quickly asked as she spotted a plastic freezer bag of something in Rory's grasp.

"Oh, uh. Luke gave these to me, to give to you. He said that he made them earlier today. Here." she said as she handed over the bag. Lorelai didn't know what to feel. Was she happy, mad, annoyed, was she falling head over heels because Luke was being so sweet?

"Thanks." Lorelai said as she slowly accepted the brownies.

"And he also wanted me to remind you about Friday night dinner." Rory added. She watched as a face full of total disgust formed on her mother's face.

"Is it too late to cancel?" Lorelai asked. She knew that over the years she had done it before, but nothing remotely horrible had happened between her and her mother in a while, and she would rather keep it that way.

"I think so." Rory answered sympathetically.

"Oh well. I tried. Maybe I could pretend I died! Do you think that the fact that I showed up for the next weeks dinner would give her any hint to the fact that I was lying?" Lorelai joked hopefully. That's not a bad idea. She thought.

"Maybe, but then again, maybe not." Rory answered with the only acceptable answer she could possibly come up with.

"Anyway. Do you have the test?" Lorelai asked.

"Yep!" Rory said as she pulled out the pregnancy test from her purse. Her mother grabbed it and got up from the couch. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" Rory asked anxiously. She had been waiting all night to find out.

"When I get back. Don't worry; I'll have to wait a few minutes for a result anyways. That should give us some time." Lorelai answered. She then walked to the bathroom.

When she came out two minutes later she found Rory talking with Sookie. They seemed to be talking about something and when Sookie noticed Lorelai come out she immediately stopped talking and retreated into the kitchen.

"Hey, what was that?" Lorelai asked gesturing towards Sookie's hiding place.

"Ah, nothing. She just wanted to know about school and stuff. So what is going on between you and Luke?" Rory quickly asked. _Changing the subject now, are we? _Lorelai said to herself.

"We got into a fight at Sniffy's. He just noticed that I wasn't eating, and he kept asking what was wrong. After about the fifth time I just snapped and yelled at him. I then left, and you can fill in the blanks." Lorelai tried to summarize.

"That's what happened? Why can't you work it out?" Rory asked.

"It's a lot more complicated. Luke and I have been through a lot. We were ok for the past two months or so, not counting that little misunderstanding a couple of weeks ago, we were fine, but before that, we had some issues. Now I think Luke is trying to make up by being there EVERY second he can." Lorelai said, emphasizing the word 'everything'.

"But isn't that good? He is trying to help you and support you." Rory said trying to persuade her mother to give Luke a chance.

"Not if he is going to strangle me. I need to be able to breathe. I am not a baby; I can do some things on my own." Lorelai pointed out.

"Well then tell him that!"

"Rory, it's not that simple. Even if I did tell him, it would take him a while to understand that that is the only way that our relationship will work. I still don't know if Luke is ready for all of this. Not to mention this little one." Lorelai said as she placed her hand on her abdomen.

"Well then give him the time." Rory added.

"Rory! I just need some time to think about these things. I told you what happened; now I just need to come up with the solution to my own problems. So plan to just have me and Jake at the dinner tomorrow." she said. Rory started to talk but Lorelai interrupted. "And if anything changes between Luke and I, then I will tell you and you can relay the message on to grandma that Luke will be coming. Now I have to go check on that test." Lorelai said. She got up, giving Rory no chance to respond. She walked quickly to the bathroom only to reappear five seconds later with a strip with a pink line on it.

"So you're pregnant?" Rory asked.

"Yep. I'm pregnant." she answered quietly.

"You don't have to sound so happy mom." Rory commented sarcastically. Why was her mother acting like this? What was wrong with her?

Lorelai just stood there with her mouth open. Why was Rory behaving this way? Why was she being so rude? Had she really taken Luke's side? _Wait, there are sides?_ Lorelai asked herself.

"Rory, what is your problem? I already knew. It's not like I'm surprised! Why are you acting this way?" she was now yelling at her daughter.

"Because you are acting childish! Just go tell Luke! Go talk to him! Stop acting like you are five years old!" Rory responded.

"Ok, girls, I just made some lamb chops. They should be done in about 15 minutes and then we can eat!" Sookie said excitedly not aware of what she just walked in on.

"I can't stay. Save some in the fridge for me ok?" Rory asked politely. No way was she going to stay here with her mother acting like this.

"Oh, that's right. You have some friends to get to. Well sure, I'll save some for you. I'll see you later than hun." Sookie said sweetly.

"Ok, bye Sookie! Mom." and then Rory exited the house.

"What's that?" Sookie asked pointing to the strip that Lorelai was holding in her hand.

"Oh, the pregnancy strip." she said holding it up.

"It's pink! You're going to have another baby!" Sookie started to jump up and down as she ran over to hug Lorelai.

"Yep, another baby." Lorelai commented unenthusiastically. _But at what cost?_

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Dum di dum di dum. I feel like singing right now, but I will save you the torture. For now. So what did you think of this chapter? Not much going on, Rory and Lorelai disagreeing on some things, Luke being all sad, but that's about it. Please review though. The more reviews I get the faster my next chapter gets typed. Oh, and what did you think of the chapter title? Isn't it just so spiffy?

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	12. Nightmares lead to Freakouts

Oh look, another chapter way ahead of schedule. Anyone happy? And I already posted my happy little one shot called A Moment in Eternity. Anyone who likes happy feelings should go read it if you haven't. So wow, 12 chapters. This is now the longest fic I have ever written, and I think it is only half way done. Can you say wow again? I can, but I won't. So, I was sick from school today, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I had most of this chapter written, I just had to finish it and edit. And now it's all done. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: do I have to do this every time? I own nothing! Have you suddenly become stupid? Can you not read the disclaimer on all of the other chapters? Ah! Ok, I'm calm again. **

_Italics are thoughts. _

**Chapter 12: Nightmares lead to Freak-outs**

Lorelai woke up suddenly. She was covered in sweat and was panting. She had just had another one of her nightmares,

But this one was where Rory had taken Jake from Lorelai and then handed the baby Luke. Rory, Luke, and Jake had then somehow disappeared, leaving Lorelai crying. The odd thing was that she had had a crib appear in front of her and just as she went to pick up the baby from inside, the crib disappeared leaving Lorelai all alone in an empty black room.

This was the dream that she had just woken up from. She quickly pushed the covers off herself and rushed to the bathroom. She ended up emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. After about 5 minutes of that unpleasant experience, she leaned back against the wall._ Why am I always left alone in this same position?_ She asked herself.

She slowly rose from the floor and walked over to the sink. She splashed some water on her face. She could see the circles that had formed under her eyes and she wondered if any amount of makeup could cover them up. _Probably not_, she thought.

She then felt a yearning to hold Jake suddenly wash over her. She wanted to hold her baby. He was he only thing that could make her forget about real life for even just a few minutes. She quickly rushed back to the guest room and grabbed her coat, pulled on some shoes, and then rushed down the stairs and out the front door. She didn't know why but she found herself quickly making her way home.

When she got there she rushed inside to find Luke sleeping on the couch. He didn't stir when she closed the door, and so she tiptoed over to Rory's room. She slowly opened the door to find Jake sleeping peacefully in his crib. She walked over to the crib.

"Hey baby. I'm sorry I left you with daddy ALL night long. It's amazing that he even got you to sleep." she whispered to him. She carefully lifted him out of the crib. He started to move slightly but as soon as he felt the warmth of Lorelai's body against his, he fell back into a deep slumber. Lorelai lay down on Rory's bed and repositioned Jake so that his head was placed between her breasts. Lorelai wrapped her arms around his tiny body and fell asleep peacefully-- without any reoccurring nightmares.

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Luke had seen it all. He had heard her come in, but he had not moved because he was afraid that she would decide to leave again. He couldn't risk it. He then watched her from the doorway. He saw her talk to Jake. He saw her pick him up. He saw how Jake responded to his mother. He watched how Lorelai had laid down on the bed and fallen fast asleep. He smiled. Lorelai was always wonder woman to Luke. She had always had some power over every person she was around. Her bond with Jake was even stronger than the one that Lorelai and Luke shared.

It was understandable considering that Jake had grown inside of her for 9 months, but Luke had never thought that any other person would be as close to Lorelai as himself. He just stood there in the doorway for about half an hour before he forced himself to go lay back down and get some sleep. He would have time in the morning to talk to Lorelai.

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Lorelai woke up to the smell of coffee and French toast. God did her nose pick up more! She looked down at the little baby that was still fast asleep in her arms. She would never be able to explain how much she loved him. No one would ever understand the magnitude of love that Lorelai had for Jake. Ever. She slowly rose from the bed trying hard not to wake Jake up. Once up she placed him in his crib and made her way to the door.

Oh no! She had not thought about how Luke would react! She was there, and he probably didn't know! _Wait, he would have checked on Jake by now and then would have noticed that I'm home. Plus Luke doesn't eat French toast. _She then just decided to just go out and go from there. She exited the room to see a cup of coffee on the table accompanied by the French toast that she had smelled. Also standing over the stove was Luke. Luke turned to look at her and she flashed him a feeble smile.

"Good morning." he greeted.

"Morning. This for me?" she asked gesturing towards the food. Of course it was, but she didn't know where she and Luke stood.

"yeah." he answered. Lorelai sat down at the table and let the hunger overtake her. She dug into the food and within 4 minutes, all of the food was gone. When she looked up from her empty plate she saw Luke staring at her.

"What?" she asked in puzzlement.

"Nothing, it's just, last night, and now this morning…" he started.

"Luke, can you just give me five more minutes before we go into explaining everything." she requested. Luke gave her a confused face. "bathroom." she added. She then exited the kitchen and ran up to the bathroom. Thank god she didn't feel like vomiting because she didn't know how much of that she could take.

When she walked back downstairs she found Luke holding Jake. He was talking to the little baby who was smiling up at his father. Lorelai hid herself from view as he listened in on the "conversation".

"So how did you sleep last night with mommy? Did she hold you? Hm? Yeah, I know she is crazy." Luke said to Jake. Just then Lorelai walked into the kitchen. Luke's smile immediately disappeared and was replaced by an expression of seriousness.

"Come see your mommy!" Lorelai commanded playfully to Jake. He reached out his arms to her. Luke handed the baby over and spoke.

"So…" he started.

"So we need to talk." Lorelai finished as Jake tried to take the cookie he was holding and smash it into Lorelai's face. "Thank you!" she commented as the cookie was pushed into her mouth. "How about you eat it! And then later you try that on daddy!" she suggested.

"Yes we do. Lorelai I'm sorry about last night but you have to understand that I have the right to be worried about you." Luke insisted. _Here we go again! I'm Luke's property; he has the right to worry about me because hey, if he doesn't, then who will he sleep with! Did I just think that? Where did that thought come from? _She questioned in her head.

"But it doesn't mean that you have a right to yell at me when I refuse to tell you what is wrong. I told you that I was sick! You have to either accept that, or just leave me alone and wait for me to tell you what really is wrong!" she argued back. _Oops. _

"So are you saying that you were lying when you said that you were sick? Were you? Because I would really like to know where the truth in this relationship went!" he yelled at her. Both Lorelai and Jake jumped. Was this really happening? Was Luke really accusing her of lying? Well she was. Just then the phone rang. What was it with phones and their power to interrupt the tensest of situations? Lorelai picked it up off the table and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Lorelai? Is that you?" Sookie's frantic voice echoed through the phone.

"Yes it is. What's wrong Sookie?" Lorelai asked worriedly. Jake then started to chew on Lorelai's hair--all interest in the cookie was gone now.

"Oh god! You weren't here and I thought something happened to you!" she said as her rapid breathing started to slow down.

"Sookie, it's Stars Hollow. What could possibly happen here?" she asked.

"You're right, but I worried. So, you're at home now? Did you talk it over with Luke yet? Does he know?" Sookie asked.

"I'm at home, not exactly, and no. not even close. So is there something else you need?" Lorelai asked.

"Well, actually, Michel just called and--" Sookie started.

"What did he do now?" Lorelai asked annoyed at the thought that Michel had done something wrong, yet again.

"He didn't do anything, but it seems that half our staff has called in sick, so they need you there." she said hoping Lorelai wouldn't try and kill her over the phone.

Lorelai sighed. What a day. "Ok, can you tell him I will be there in about ten minutes?" she requested of Sookie.

"Ok, I'll see you there." Sookie said and then the line went dead. Lorelai slammed the phone on the table.

"I need to go. Rory said she's going to pick Jake up sometime today, so here." she said as she handed over the little baby. She didn't want to leave him but she couldn't go to work and be distracted by him all day long. She then rushed up the stairs to change quickly. Luke had a stunned expression on his face. Was that the talk? Were they done? Done with what exactly?

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Grammy's are on soon! I must go watch them, so I will make this quick. Please review. I need them after the horrible day I had. Staying at home with the feeling of nausea all day is not fun. Sorry you had to read that.

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	13. Water, Squid, and a Meeting

Well this is a short chapter, but it only took me two days. I am guessing that this chapter will make you all very happy. I don't have much to say except that this might be the last chapter for a while. I have been having some trouble writing this story. It is just not turning out the way I want it to, and it's just taking so long to write! This fic will probably end up being around 90 pages total. So far it's up to 48 pages. Makes you feel like there's no ending. It is kind of intimidating to me. I don't know why, but it might be because I have to find a way to keep my writing up to par for another 13 chapters or so. Anyway, I hope you like this story, but remember, all goods come with bads.

**Disclaimer: do I have to explain this over again?**

**Chapter 13: Water, Squid, and a Meeting**

As Lorelai approached her parents' house she hoped that Rory had told them that Luke wasn't coming. She could just imagine them yelling at her for not telling them that Luke wasn't going to be there. She pulled into the driveway and got out of the jeep. She saw that Rory already had arrived. She walked over to the door and rang the bell.

"Hello. May I help you?" the maid asked.

"I'm Lorelai, Emily and Richard's daughter." Lorelai answered. The maid granted her entrance and took Lorelai's coat.

"Lorelai! How are you?" her father asked as she walked into the living room.

"I'm good. And you?" she responded. She sat down next to Rory. Emily was holding Jake now, who had been brought by Rory. Before her father could answer, Emily interrupted.

"Where's Luke?"

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"I was informed that Luke would be coming." Emily answered.

"Well, he couldn't make it." Lorelai said flashing Rory a face that said 'change-the-subject-now!'.

"So, Grandpa, can I have more to drink?" Rory interrupted the little thing going on between her mother and grandmother.

"Certainly. Lorelai would you like something?" Richard asked.

"Uh, maybe just some water." she said. And then she realized she had just walked into a trap.

"Water? What's wrong with you?" Emily asked. _God she is just so full of questions tonight isn't she?_

"I'm driving home tonight." Lorelai answered simply. Did she buy it? Thankfully she did and they went back to talking about what Rory was planning on doing this summer.

-------------------

"Mmhhh. This is good grandma! What is it?" Rory asked as she stuffed her face with her fork.

"You don't want to know. Trust me." Lorelai commented before Emily could answer. Rory gave her a puzzled glance before turning to her grandmother.

"It's squid." Emily answered before taking a bite of her food. Rory's face went pale as she dropped her fork. Lorelai just laughed at this.

"What did I tell you?" Lorelai said as she dropped the fork that she had been feeding Jake with. He had now refused to eat anymore of his applesauce so Lorelai gave up.

"Lorelai. Why don't you let me have Harriet clean the child up?" Emily suggested.

"Uh, for one thing, she said her name was Hannah, and two, he needs to be able to play with his food every once in a while. I will get to cleaning him up eventually." she said as she picked at her food. She had not eaten anything all evening long because it made her stomach queasy.

"What's wrong with the food?" Emily asked when she noticed Lorelai picking at her food.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"You're not eating? What's wrong with the food?" she asked.

"It's squid." Lorelai answered quickly.

"But you have been picking at all of your food. What's wrong with you--oh my god!" Emily screamed. Everyone looked at her quickly. "You're pregnant!" Emily said as she freaked out.

"What?" Lorelai asked. _Don't tell the truth, don't tell the truth. _Lorelai kept telling herself.

"You're not drinking, you're not eating. You're pregnant. Admit it!" Emily said.

"What?" she asked in astonishment. _How does she do that? No one can figure that out except for Mrs. Emily Gilmore. Maybe she should be studied for scientific purposes. _

"Please Emily. If Lorelai was pregnant she would tell us. Wouldn't you?" Richard asked Lorelai. When all that Lorelai did was sit there silently, Emily found it necessary to resume her attack.

"You are pregnant! I know you! The last time you didn't eat was when you were pregnant for Jake. And now you are here trying to tell me you aren't? Why that's just ridiculous! Are you too hateful that you refuse to admit to your only parents that you are pregnant?" Emily ranted in her anger._ What is with her? Why is every thing about her?_ Lorelai thought to herself.

"Fine, I'm pregnant! Happy?" she said defeated.

"Is that why Luke isn't here? You told him and now he's running? Is that it?" she said accusingly as if she had won something.

"No mom, that's not it. Luke doesn't even know" Lorelai retorted. She could feel the anger start to rise up inside of her.

"So what? You're running now? Like last time? Or are you being original and thinking of some other way to get out of having a man there for you?" her mother accused with a look that showed her disgust for her daughter at that moment.

"Oh my god! You don't even like Luke! Why are you defending him now?" Lorelai yelled.

"I never said I didn't like him." she responded calmly.

"What planet are you from? You broke us up over a year ago! It's your fault I was alone for all of those months while I was pregnant!" she screamed at her mother.

"So now you feel like repeating that?" Emily asked sharply.

"I can't take this." Lorelai said as she got up and threw her napkin on the table and walked to the door.

"Mom! Wait!" Rory said as she chased after her mother.

"What Rory?" Lorelai asked as she turned around. She had tears streaming down her face.

"What about Jake?" Rory asked quietly.

"Oh, crap. That's right. Can you just drop him off at the house when you leave? I really can't take him now. I might get in an accident on the road and I can't chance him being in the car for that." Lorelai joked. The fact was that she actually saw that as a possibility. In the state she was in, she might get into some sort of accident.

"Ok, but mom, you know that grandma is right, don't you?" Rory added quietly. It was true. Rory saw it as the truth. Her mother had always been the one to keep these things a secret to protect herself. Rory couldn't take it any more. She had to tell her mother.

"Oh my god! Not you too! God Rory! I will tell him! But not now!" she yelled at her daughter. She really didn't want to talk about this now.

"But when? Soon? In a week? In a month? The day you go into labor?" Rory asked sharply. These questions cut into Lorelai like a knife.

"Rory! This is none of your business! Just go back and enjoy dinner with your grandparents." she said as she turned to leave.

"You need to just forgive him! This is hurting him too! And you know it! But fine. Be selfish mom. Luke is hurting and you know it. And you can't even give him a chance!" Rory finished. She then turned and walked back into the dining room. Lorelai was frozen on the spot. Had her daughter just lectured her? Rory had NEVER talked to her that harshly. NEVER. Tears streamed down her face as she grabbed her coat and made her way out to the jeep.

--------------

She had somehow ended up there. She had parked in the empty driveway and had made her way onto the porch. She didn't feel like going inside the house because that would make it so much harder to think. She just sat on the porch steps. What was going to happen? What would Luke say when she told him about the baby? Would he be happy? She knew he wouldn't run but what would his exact reaction be? How was she supposed to bring that topic up during the fight that was almost inevitable?

"Lorelai?" she heard Luke call her name from in front of her.

"Luke?" she said quietly.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at your parents' dinner?" he asked as he approached the house with a couple of Doose's bags in hand. Lorelai noticed that she still had tears streaming down her face. Wow, Rory and her mother had really affected her. She never realized how much other people could get to her.

"Uh…" she sniffled. "Yeah, but it was cut short by a sudden change in conversation." she said dancing around the subject. She was still sniffling. Luke placed the bags down and sat down next to her, pulling her body into his. "Why does she have to be so rude? Why does it always have to be my fault?" Lorelai sobbed into Luke's shoulder.

He didn't know what to say. She was probably talking about Emily and he didn't know what Emily had blamed Lorelai for this time.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked slowly trying not to upset her more.

"Yeah. But first I have to tell you something else Luke. Promise you won't freak out because I didn't tell you right away." she begged as her eyes glittered with tears that were just waiting to erupt from her eyes.

"What?" he asked. _What the hell is she about to tell me? Oh god! What is she going to tell me? _He asked in his head. He was now panicking inside but he couldn't show it.

"Promise you will just hear me out Luke." she asked again. _God! Don't freak out! Don't freak out! If there was ever a time that I need a miracle, it would be now so Luke won't freak out!_

"Ok. What do I need to not freak out about?" he asked. _Warning! Warning! Unidentified topic about to be thrown out into the open air that you can't stop!_ He thought to himself.  
"Luke," she paused. "I'm pregnant."

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Cliffhanger! Oh god! I love 'em! They are so fun to write! And to hear your reactions! I don't actually know how I want to have Luke react. Well, I do, but I don't know how I'm going to write it. But anyway, please tell me what you think? Do you now hate me because of the nice little cliffhanger I left you? Do you think Emily and Richard were in character enough? Please tell me what you like about this chapter, and what part of this chapter you don't like. Review!

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	14. Motivation Explanations

So I am doing this as a celebration gift to all of my Gilmore Girls obsessed friends. We need lives. So here is a short chapter for you all. Just remember that I wasn't supposed to post for another week or so because of my inability to come up with ideas, so be thankful. Have fun reading!

_Disclaimer: go way, I own nothing. _

**Chapter 14: Motivation Explanations**

Previously:

_"Luke," she paused. "I'm pregnant." she let out._

--------------------

Luke just sat there in shock. _She's pregnant? She's pregnant?_ He thought.

"When…when did this happen?" he asked quietly.

"Probably the other night, but I don't know the exact date. As a matter of fact, if I did, then that would be amazing. Maybe I could win the lottery with that power." she joked. _Great! So now this is a topic for humor and joking! Just wonderful. _Lorelai thought.

"Are you sure?" he asked. _If I'm going to get excited, it better not be for nothing. Wait, I'm excited?_

"Yah, well, not one hundred percent, but you know the pretty little test I took last night said I am." she joked again.

"So you took a test last night?" he asked. He wanted to get everything straight in his head.

"Yep." she answered.

"How long have you known?" he asked, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Since Sniffy's last night. Listen Luke, I'm so, so, so sorry. I am sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't want to tell you until I was absolutely sure and--" she started to babble but was interrupted by Luke.

"So, the thing at Sniffy's, the not eating, the phone call, the throwing up at Sookie's--"

"Was pregnancy stuff." she finished for him.

"Wow. I'm sorry about that.Last nightI mean." he apologized. "And this morning." Luke added.

"It's ok. You were right, you were just worried. I'm sorry I flipped out. At least now I can blame it on the spiking hormone levels in my body." she joked. Luke smiled.

"I'm going to be a father." he whispered.

"Again." she added. Luke smiled and Lorelai gave him a peck on the lips.

"So what happened at your parents' house then?" he asked.

"Ah." she groaned. "Well, at first I decided to have water instead of alcohol, and my mother asked what was wrong. I told her I was driving home or something, then when dinner came around. She saw me picking at my food--" Luke gave Lorelai a look that said 'see!-I'm-not-the-only-one!' "So she then she put two and two together and--"

"Oh god." Luke added. Lorelai smiled.

"Exactly. So she started theorizing that you weren't there because you ran when I told you about being pregnant, and when I said that I didn't even tell you, she said that I was running, and then she started telling me that the whole 'you not being there when I was pregnant for Jake' thing was solely my fault!" Luke looked at her. This had been a sore spot in their conversations so far. "I just couldn't take it. So I got up to leave and then RORY follows me. She starts trying to tell me that I should just come back here and make up with you, and that everything is all my fault. She accused me of trying to avoid telling you about being pregnant all together! Like I was going to hide it until I had the kid! She was just so harsh, and it hurt. It hurt me Luke. You know that you are the only one that can truly hurt me--" when she got a confused look from Luke, she tried to clarify. "Because you know me so well, you know my weak spots, my buttons. all of them, might I add," she smiled seductively at Luke who just smiled and looked down at his feet. " So when she said that, it hit me, Rory can truly hurt me. She can, and I hate to admit it, but I couldn't be wonder woman anymore, so I just left to come find the one person who is always there in these situations." she said as Luke looked up. "You."

"What a night." he commented with a smile on his face.

"Yes. As are all of the Gilmore encounters. I think we are one on the best rated shows on televisions." she joked.

"Most definitely." Luke commented as he kissed her.

"So, Luke's a daddy, again, I won't be speaking to my mother for another trillion years, Rory is spending some quality time with your first born, what are you going to do now?" she asked. She put on her seductive smile again.

"Is claiming my prize one of the choices?" he asked.

"Always." she whispered. He leaned in and started kissing her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and the other one he placed on the back of her head. As always, both of Lorelai's hands were playing with the curls of Luke's hair.

"Lorelai Hunny? Is that you?" they both pulled apart as they heard the raspy voice of Babette behind them.

"Yes Babette, it's me." Lorelai yelled. "wonderful timing, don't you think?" she asked Luke sarcastically.

"Oh, well I--did I interrupt something?" Babette asked as she noticed that Luke and Lorelai were in a very odd position for just talking.

"No Babette." Lorelai answered.

"Yes you did. " Luke added.

"Oh Luke, you can wait." she said swatting his chest.

"Fine, well, I'll just get these bags inside." he gestured towards the bags full of groceries.

"Ok, I'll be there in a sec hun." she told him as she quickly pecked him on the lips and then walked over to Babette.

Luke grabbed the bags and proceeded to enter the house. He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. As he was putting the milk and eggs away, Lorelai walked into the house.

"Hey. You didn't check the messages." she shouted so Luke could hear her.

"I thought that I wasn't allowed to!" he shouted back remembering the rule that he had been give.

"Oh, that." she said to herself. She pressed the button and immediately heard her mother's voice.

"Lorelai, it is very rude for you to walk out like that! You left Jacob here and now Rory has to take him home! What has gotten into you? It can't be those pregnancy hormones because--" beep! "Message has been deleted." the answering machine said.

"Ah," Lorelai sighed. "Music to my ears." she smiled as she walked into the kitchen. She snaked her arms around Luke's waist, causing him to drop the box of pop tarts he was holding in his hand. "You dropped my wonderful pop tarts! How could you Luke? How could you?" she asked as she dramatically flailed her arms in the air.

"well see it was easy, let go, and then let gravity do its job." he commented as he bent down to pick up the dropped box.

"you're mean! poor pop tarts! They probably have shaken baby syndrome now!" she complained as she grabbed the box from Luke and started to cradle it in her arms.

"and the pop tarts are living now?" he asked skeptically.

" when were they not? How dare you Lucas! How dare you insult the poor pop tarts! All they have done is feed me and keep me alive for the past years and all you can do is insult them?" she asked in false disbelief.

"Yes." he simply responded.

"Hey!" Lorelai screamed as she saw Luke try and throw her coffee out. She dropped the pop tart box and rushed over to the trash. She grabbed the can before Luke could even react.

"Lorelai, you can't have the coffee anyways!" he commented as he tried to grab it from her grasp. She turned her back to him to protect her precious love.

"What are you talking about? I can too! I did with Rory, and I did with Jake! Two out of two! Both are normal children and will grow up to lead average and fulfilling lives!" she argues as she deflected his attempts to take the can again.

"No coffee! Lorelai! I mean it!" he tried to show her that he would not budge on this subject.

"Lucas Danes! You will not, and will never have the ability to limit my coffee intake!"

"Lorelai, give me the coffee." he demanded.

"Never! My coffee!" she shouted as she ran into the living room. Luke walked briskly after her.

"Lorelai, just give me the coffee." He said sternly.

"No! I shall never give in!" she said as she ran around the house with Luke chasing her.

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What do you all think? Are you relieved to have them back together? Please review, they keep me living and young.

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	15. Unwanted Tales and RunIns

Sorry it took so long. I have just been really busy this week with after school things, visiting friends, going to the musical at the school twice, both last night and earlier this evening. I know, I'm obsessive, but that's whatI like to do. I enjoy musicals, plays, and operas. So that was my week summed up in a paragraph. And the internet was down at my house today.

And now I have to make a sad, sad, sad announcement. I think this will be my last fic, and after this I shall retire from writing and shall put all of my energy into school. I might write a bit in the summer but I don't think I will. I'm sorry because I have so many people out there that want me to write more, but I'm just not feeling the passion to write anymore. I will finish this fic though. Don't worry about that. ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

Oh, and the answer to that question at the top of Part 2 of "Because you care" is at the beginning of this chapter. Have fun!

_Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. I had to borrow money from my friend to buy myself some coffee and a raspberry cream tart, so I don't think I have enough money to own anything. The tart was good by the way._

**Chapter 15: Unwanted Tales and Run-Ins**

Twenty minutes and seven hours worth of exercise later they were both laying in bed naked with coffee grounds strewn all over the room.

"See, coffee does lead to never ending pleasure." Lorelai giggled as she flashed Luke a smile.

"That it does." Luke commented. Lorelai started to kiss all around Luke's tattoo. "What are you doing?"

"I'm kissing you. Do we really need to go over this again? Ok, see these are my boobs--" she said as she pointed to her breasts. "These are my lips, those are your lips," she then pointed to his groin. "That's Henry--"

"Henry? You have named my penis Henry?" he asked in puzzlement.

"Yes, now this is my--" she was caught off by Luke's lips against hers. "And that was a damn fine kiss. And you know what is better than a damn fine kiss?" she asked him.

"What?" he asked, playing along.

"Coffee induced sex." she smiled. Luke just rolled his eyes. "No seriously! Ten years from now, when you are giving Jake the little 'now, at a certain age, you will start to feel the urge to—'"

"Lorelai." Luke whined.

"As I was say 'you will feel the urge to touch girls, now that is ok, as long as they say it's ok' talk, and you can give this as an example! Like you can say 'one day, when we found out about you being a big brother, we had a fight over coffee, which of course you love because your beautiful and wonderful mother brought you up that way, and we ended up making sweet love, and it was all over the coffee.' what do ya think? Good story to tell, huh?" she teased him. She was smiling as Luke rolled his eyes.

"I am not telling him we 'made sweet love' because of coffee." he told her.

"But come on! It'll be fun to see his reaction! Then the next thing you know, he'll be asking 'did you make sweet love over marshmallows when daddy found out about me?' won't that be fun?" she teased in a squeaky voice.

"No, not really." he commented.

"You don't love me? Are you ashamed of me? Are you Luke? Because the fact that Jake is in existence proves that we had sex at some point." she said a matter-of-factly.

"But not over coffee."

"Fine you win. But I'll tell him the story." she said.

"Oh jeez. Our poor child." Luke said.

"Children. Hmm, what do you want Luke?" Lorelai asked him.

"What?"

"A boy or a girl? I mean I have one of each so I don't care either way. What about you?" she asked.

"Well a girl would be nice, but it doesn't matter. I guess there are good points to both sides." he said.

"A list! You should make a list!" Lorelai suddenly shouted as she sat up in the bed.

"What? Why would I need a list? It's not like what I would like better will really change anything." he added.

"But lists are fun! Just ask Rory! She may be majoring in Journalism, but she minors in list making!" she said excitedly.

"You and your lists." Luke mumbled.

"Hey! I gave you a son! And now I am adding to your family tree again! Don't insult my list fetish!" she chastised.

"Here we go again." he groaned.

"I spent hours going through excruciating pain just to squeeze your huge child out of me! You kid was like ten times the normal size of anything that passes through my vagina! And now I am going to spend the next eight months with another one of your children growing inside of me! And after that 8 months is up, I have to squeeze another kid out! And here you are insulting my lists! You owe me! I want to see you squeeze a kid out! You my friend" Lorelai said pointing to Luke. "Are getting off easy! So no complaining! And after this one, if you plan on having any more kids, you can get pregnant, and have to be deprived of your normal amount of food for the first three months, and then have to cut back on your coffee intake--" she ranted.

"I don't drink coffee." Luke pointed out.

"And then you can get the swollen ankles, have some stick their hand in you" Luke cringed at this thought, "and then be poked and prodded by the town, and then get twenty different needles stuck in you, and then, finally, give birth! You are doing that next time! Not me! Hey! Maybe I can pull a Sookie on you!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"What?" Luke asked in puzzlement.

"Sookie made Jackson get a vasectomy. Hehe, maybe I will have them schedule you for one of those." she joked. Luke looked at her in horror.

"You will do no such thing!" he shouted as he inched away from her.

"Oh, is little baby scared of the big bad Lorelai? Did I scare you? Now see the only way for you to get out of that procedure is do me a nice little favor." she said seductively.

"What?" he groaned.

"Round 2 of coffee induced sex." she said cheerfully. Luke grinned at her playfully and flipped her onto her back. "Wait, what time is it?" Lorelai asked. Luke flashed a glance at the clock.

"9:15. Why?" he asked.

"Rory should be here in about half an hour. We have enough time." she confirmed as Luke trailed kisses down her neck.

-----------------------------

Rory walked through the door a little after 9:20 carrying her sleeping brother. She carefully walked into her room and placed him in the crib, making sure not to wake him up. She had seen both Luke's truck and her mother's jeep outside but there was no sign of them. The house was silent. Maybe they were upstairs sleeping?

Rory made her way up the stairs. She thought she heard something, but it sounded like her mother talking in her sleep. When she finally got to the room she saw the door was wide open and inside was--

"Oh god! Luke!" Lorelai moaned.

"Ah!" Rory screamed as she covered her eyes.

"Oh my god! Rory!" Lorelai said as she was jerked out of her state of pleasure. Luke rolled of Lorelai and accidentally fell to the floor. Thankfully it was the side of the bed furthest from the door.

"Rory, hi." he said embarrassed.

"What are you doing here?" Lorelai said as she clutched the sheet close to her chest.

"Well I was here to drop off your son, but now I have to go vomit." Rory said as she ran to the bathroom.

"Well that went well." Lorelai said sarcastically. Luke gave her a look of total shock. "Hun can you throw me your flannel shirt over there?" Lorelai asked as she pointed to his shirt that was lying at his feet. He grabbed it and threw it at her.

"What was that?" he said gesturing violently.

"Well see that was MY first born walking in on us doing the dirty. You would think Henry would have sent you that message." she joked.

"But what are we going to do?" he asked frantically.

"Well I am going to go talk to her, and you might want to brush up on your communication skills, you and Henry are obviously having some issues there." she joked.

"Stop referring to it as 'Henry'!" he demanded.

"See, you don't mind letting me call it that when there is a chance of you getting lucky, but the moment it's over, I'm not allowed to call your penis by its name. You're mean!" she whined.

"Go talk to Rory." he said as he threw a pillow at her.

"And then you can get dressed!" she said as she got out of bed with the red flannel covering her body. She then walked out of the room and head towards the bathroom door which was shut. She knocked on the door. "You in there Hun?" Lorelai asked. She could hear the water running.

"Yeah." Rory said weakly.

"What ya doing?" Lorelai asked with her face pressed against the door.

"Trying to wash the dirty images out of my mind with cold water." Rory informed.

"Can I come in?" Lorelai asked.

"Door's unlocked." Lorelai slowly opened the door to see her daughter with her face hanging over the sink. Her face looked like she had been splashing water on it.

"I'm sorry you walked in on that." Lorelai apologized.

"It's ok, just…very disturbing. Did I ever do that as a kid?" Rory asked.

"I didn't have any men in the house until you were older and even then when that happened" she said referring to sex. "I made sure it wasn't here, or that you weren't home. Did I mention how sorry I am?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes. So I take it you in Luke made up?" Rory asked.

"Why yes we have. I'm sorry about earlier. I just--"

"It's ok mom. You were right. I had no right getting into your business and trying to convince you to get back together with Luke. And I'm sorry that I accused you of not wanting to tell him. Oh! You did tell him right?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes, I told him. And we even got a chance to redecorate our room--in coffee." Lorelai said.

"I saw. What happened?" Rory asked.

"Luke tried to take the coffee when he found out I was pregnant."

"And you defended it like any noble coffee drinker would." Rory added.

"Why yes I did. So is Jake downstairs?"

"Yep. He's sleeping in the crib."

"So why did you come home early?" Lorelai asked.

"Grandma started to get really mad and you know, Jake fell asleep and I just decided it was time to leave. Did she leave you a nice little hate message?" Rory asked.

"Yep, that's my mother for you." Lorelai said as she gave a sigh.

"Yeah, she left the table for a bit to go 'make a call' and I guessed that she was calling you. Ok, being in the bathroom is kind of creeping me out now. Can we go out into the hallway or something?" Rory asked.

"Sure." Lorelai said opening the door. Rory followed her mother out. They ran into Luke who was buttoning the last button of his flannel.

"Hey Hun. You and Henry have that talk?" Lorelai teased.

"Oh jeez! I'm going downstairs!" he said as he rolled his eyes.

"What was that all about? Who's Henry?" Rory asked. Lorelai gave her a huge grin. "Oh my god! Mom! Couldn't you have just said 'nothing' or 'you don't want to know'?" Rory complained.

"But that wouldn't be any fun!" Lorelai pointed out.

"I'm leaving now! I have to go see some friends anyways." Rory said.

"You and your friends! Who are these friends that you go and see so much? Are they a biker gang? Ooo! The swim team!" Lorelai started as Rory walked down the stairs away from her mother, who just followed close behind. "Or is it the school nerds?"

"Mom!"

"So it is the nerds! Do they have motorcycles?" Lorelai asked.

"You are sick!" she said as she reached the foyer. She grabbed her purse and yelled to Luke. "I'm leaving! Do me a favor and get mom some help!"

"I'll try!" Luke responded.

"Bye mom." Rory said as Lorelai quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye babe. Don't forget the motorcycles!" Lorelai shouted out the door at Rory, who in turn, just rolled her eyes. Lorelai closed the door and walked slowly to the kitchen.

"What about motorcycles?" Luke asked her.

"I told Rory that she should make sure her nerds have motorcycles before it gets too serious." she commented as she opened the refrigerator searching for food.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Nothing babe." she told him as she pulled out some pizza from the previous Wednesday.

"You know I could have cooked you something right?" he asked her.

"Yes but that would have taken too long. Plus we can't let perfectly good two day old pizza go to waste now can we?" she said as she sat down at the table.

"Of course not." Luke answered sarcastically.

"So you are happy?" Lorelai asked Luke.

"What?"

"So you're happy about me being pregnant?" she rephrased the question.

"I am." Luke said as he sat across from her with a sandwich in hand.

"Good. So, do you want to tell the town?" she asked.

"I don't know."

"Maybe we should just let them find out when they find out." Lorelai suggested.

"Sounds good." Luke agreed.

"So if we end up talking about it and someone overhears us, that's ok with you?" she asked.

"That's fine." Luke answered as he leaned over to kiss her.

"You're just happy that you could spread your seed." she said as she playfully hit his shoulder.

"Yes, that's just it." he answered sarcastically.

"See, I was right! So tomorrow is Saturday." she changed the subject.

"Yes it is." Luke said wondering where she was going with this.

"So, I have the day off, you can call Caesar to take over for you tomorrow, and we should do something. Like spend the whole day shopping or staying here watching movies, or just cuddle and eat junk food all day long. Well you can eat your rabbit food, but either way, it's stuffing our faces." she ranted.

"Sure."

"Sure?" she asked.

"sure." he repeated.

"Sure? You are just agreeing to this? No 'I have to work, Caesar can't take over'? No 'junk food is bad for the baby.'? No 'I can't stand shopping or watching tons and tons of movies all day long.'?" she asked in astonishment.

"Yep."

"But…why?" she asked him.

"After what we have both been through over the past day, we could both use a break. Junk food is bad for the baby but one day won't kill it. I will say no to the shopping but any other thing I can stand as long as I am spending the day with you." he explained.

"You're so sweet! You do realize that Jake will also be a part of this plan too right?" she asked him.

"Of course."

"So tomorrow we will spend the WHOLE day together as our own little family unit. Maybe go bug Taylor, you know, shop lift, drop all of the eggs on the floor. Huh? Sound fun? And then we can blame it all on Jake who will just happen to pull all of them off the shelves. How does that sound?" she asked with a smile on her face.

"Sounds good." Luke responded happily.

"I like this side of you. So can I get you to drink coffee too?" she asked.

"No. I will never kill myself." he refused.

"Fine, it was worth a try though." she said disappointedly. "Hey! How about you give a back massage now! Doesn't that sound fun?" she asked excitedly.

"depends." he said.

"On what?" she asked.

"On whether I will be cleaning up the coffee in the room or not." he answered.

"You will of course. You really think that I would be the one to clean up?" she asked.

"Then no back massage." he concluded.

"Lucas Danes! Give me a back massage now! Do I need to rant about how I am the pregnant one again?" she asked in disbelief. Luke got up and walked around to the other side of the table, right behind her. "I guess not." she said as Luke started massaging her shoulders. "And this, is why you are still around." she told him with a sigh.

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So how did you like it? Was it any good? Do you like my answer to that question in the other fic? See, it wasn't just some random question that had no answer. So, please review. My birthday is a week from today and I don't think I will be posting another chapter in the next week, so as a birthday present, it might be nice to get some extra reviews. hint, hint

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	16. Hiding Twinkies, Revealing Lov

Hey guys! Here's more. So who hates Nicole? Sorry, I'm watching an old eppy and she is really starting to bug me. Anyway, So Here's a filler chapter. Sorry if you are all about to kill me because the drama has disappeared, but I promise it will come back. But not yet. so here it is, I will try and write the next chapter REALLY long because it will take a while to get to the drama. I spent the whole day searching for colleges, and let me say that they are crazy! There are so many colleges, and how do they expect me to pay for them! I will never be able to get that much money, even with loans! It's ridiculous! Sorry, I had to vent to you all. Feel free to vent back.

Disclaimer: if I can't pay for college, then I don't think that I own Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter 16: Hiding Twinkies, Revealing Love**

"Pancakes? French toast? Eggs?" Luke asked as Lorelai walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"Coffee." she answered as she sat down. She rubbed her eyes which were still adjusting to the light. Luke gave her a look that said 'we-have-discussed-this-already'. "Luke, just give me the coffee." she demanded. Luke reluctantly obliged to her command, reminding himself that she still needed to adjust to no coffee, so he would let it slide, for this one cup.

"So what do you want to do today?" he asked as he set the cup down in front of her, and then walked back over to the stove to make breakfast.

"Well, first I would like pancakes, and an omelet. Ooo, actually I want those second. First I want a kiss." she said with a smile. Luke walked over from the stove and pulled Lorelai up out of her chair by her hands. He pulled her slowly into an embrace and kissed her on the head. "Hey, that's not a proper kiss!" she complained. Luke looked down at her with a smile.

"Is this?" he asked and then he leaned down to give her a kiss.

"Not quite but you're getting there." she answered. Just then a laughing was heard coming from Rory's room. "He's awake!" Lorelai said excitedly.

"He's been for the past two hours. Since 8." he said.

"Oh hush! Just because I sleep late doesn't make me a bad person! Just a very lazy and tired one!" she said happily as she pecked Luke on the lips. She then broke away from his embrace and ran to Rory's room and opened the door. "Surprise!" she yelled and Luke could see that Jake only laughed more because of this.

"You are just like a child." Luke told her.

"Shush! You! Leave me to my happiness! Go be a grumpy old man in the living room." she told him.

"And who will cook your breakfast?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Santa Clause!" she answered playfully as she picked Jake up out of his crib. "How is my little Jakey this morning? Happy? Excited? Full of love and joy? We can only hope that the grumpy genes were not the ones you received." she said to the little child. Jake pointed to his father. "Yes! That's daddy! He is the grumpy old man! Se, he knows who's the grumpy one already!" Lorelai said to Luke.

"Yes because we all know that it is so easy to understand you." he said sarcastically.

"Did you hear that Jakey? Is Daddy being mean to me? What are you going to do about it?" she asked him. Jake just stuck his fist in Lorelai's mouth.

"Stick his fist in your mouth." Luke answered with a laugh as he flipped pancakes.

"He just needs more training! Don't you? I know that deep down inside there is the male equivalent of me inside this little boy of mine! Don't you doubt that!" she told Luke.

"Yes because that is such a reasonable thought."

"Enough of these sarcastic, mean remarks mister!" Lorelai said as she finally exited Rory's room. Luke then placed the pancakes he had been cooking on the table.

"There. Happy death." he said as he went back to making himself oatmeal.

"And what a splendid one it will be!" Lorelai said cheerfully.

"So what are we going to do today?" Luke asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know. I think we should stay here until noon." she said.

"And do what?"

"Well, maybe we could run around naked. Hey, do we have any whipped cream?" she asked knowing what his response would be.

"Oh jeez!" _yep, there it is. _Lorelai thought to herself.

"Oh jeez!" Lorelai mocked. "You know you would enjoy it!" she said as she threw a piece of pancake at him but it ended up landing on the counter three feet from him.

"Could you please think of something we could do that would be appropriate enough for Jake to witness." he rephrased his question from a few minutes ago.

"Oh! So that's what you meant? Well that changes things a bit. Hmmm, maybe watch some movies, stuff some chips down your throat. Ooo! I wonder if we have Twinkies!" she said with a smile.

"I am not eating that crap. Do you realize how fattening and unhealthy that is for you?" he asked.

"Fattening, well if you are worried about that, then you are in for a hell of a shock in the next 8 months! And they are not unhealthy! You just have to eat them in sparing amounts." she said as she shoved a bite of pancake into her mouth.

"And you call the amount of that crap in your diet sparingly?"

"Why yes I do! Now, if I ate them every meal, then that would be unhealthy, but I don't. Just every other meal. I wonder if Rory has any Twinkies stored in her room. She likes to hide these things from me." Lorelai said as she got up. She handed Jake to Luke and walked into Rory's room to search for the hidden Twinkies.

"I wonder why she would do a thing like that!" Luke commented sarcastically.

"I know! I gave birth to her! I gave her life! She should not be hiding anything from me!" she said as she continued to search the room.

"And she is how old?" Luke asked Lorelai.

"She is 21, but just think of it as 2 plus 1." she yelled from the closet. "Ah ha! I found them! Wow! She really did hide Twinkies from me." she said as she carried the box out. She was looking inside of it. "Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!" she remarked.

"What?" Luke asked.

"She has two left! Two! She has been eating them without telling me that they were even in this house! So not only is she ignoring the fact that I carried her inside of me for 9 months, but she also is ignoring the fact that this is my house!" Lorelai complained.

"I will get you some Twinkies at the store if you stop this complaining." Luke bargained.

"Yes! Ooo! Can you go now? And I want some ho-hos and some of those little coffee cakey things! Ooo! Those are so good!" she rambled excitedly.

"Ho-hos?" Luke asked.

"Don't tell me you have never tried a ho-ho?" she asked in amazement. He looked at her as if she was crazy. "Oh my god! You are trying one! I will make you!" she said as she put the Twinkie box on the table.

"Only if you eat a bite of this oatmeal." he said.

"Eew! How dare you try to feed that to me! Do you not love me?" she asked.

"Well see you are more use to me alive rather than dead." he said.

"Dirty." Lorelai said slowly with a grin on her face.

"And I set myself up for that one!" he said as he handed Jake back over to his mother.

"Yes you did." she told him. She then looked at Jake. "How about we go pick a movie that makes Daddy regret he ever agreed to this! Sound good?" she asked him. Jake just giggled. "I will take that as a yes." she said as she flashed Luke a smile.

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"No more." Luke said firmly.

"Come on Luke! Just one more. Please! We have been going over this for the past 3 minutes, just give in! I've only had two! Just give in!" she begged. Luke knew that the moment he looked into the blue of her eyes that he would lose, but he did it any way.

"fine." he sighed.

"Yes! Score!" she shouted as she threw her arms up into the air. Luke got up and walked into the kitchen and returned quickly with a cup of coffee. Lorelai sniffed it and cringed.

"What?" Luke asked.

"You! How could you? How could you even think of poisoning my cup with decaf? You will break Mr. Coffee!" she said to him.

"Mr. Coffee?" he asked.

"The coffee maker! You gave me decaf! Why?" she asked in astonishment.

"Why? Because caffeine is bad for the baby." he said simply.

"How would you know? You've never had a kid before! Besides Jake, who you weren't here for the pregnancy so you wouldn't know what is good and what is bad." she argued.

"Liz was pregnant once too you know." he said.

"So? He body can't handle the amount of caffeine my body can! My genes are genetically mutated!" she stated.

"Just drink the coffee." he said.

"What? No! Absolutely not! I will not drink this! Now go get me the real stuff! Before I go and get some myself." she said.

"Ok. Go get some." he said as he unpaused the television.

"Wha? What? You are refusing? This has never happened! You!" she pointed to her abdomen. "You! It's all your fault! You have affected my powers some how! And even when I do get the foods I like, you make me just throw them up in the toilet! You are nothing but a pain in my stomach! Just wait! I will be calling you a pain in the kidney too!" she chastised her abdomen.

"Crazy." Luke muttered.

"Ah! And now daddy is calling me crazy! If only your big brother was up! He would defend me by poke your daddy in the eye! But no! He's sleeping." she pouted.

"He's napping. That's a good thing." Luke commented.

"You just shush! I've had just about enough of you today." she added, faking annoyance.

"I'll remember that when you want dinner." he threatened with a smile.

"You wouldn't!" she exclaimed.

"I would." he said flatly.

"But…but…not fair! You know my weakness! That's not playing by the rules!" she complained.

"What rules?" he asked.

"Why the rules of dating a Gilmore. What else?" she informed him.

"Oh, well then if I had known about those rules before…" he teased. She hit him on the arm. Just as she was about to say something, the phone rang. "That's for you." Luke told her.

"How do you know?"

"Who would call me?"

"Good point." she said as she got up to get the phone. "Hello?" she answered the phone. "Yes this is she. Oh, hi. Yes I did." she paused. "Oh, uh, Thursday at noon? No, I can't make it. I have to work." Lorelai answered. "Ah Friday at three. Hold on, let me just check here." Lorelai said as she turned to Luke. "Are you free on Friday at three?" she asked him.

"I guess. Why?" he asked. Lorelai just held up her hand telling him to hold on.

"Yes, Friday at three is great. Thank you. Bye." Lorelai said and then hung up.

"Who was that?" Luke asked.

"My OBGYN. We have an appointment for Friday at three." she sat down next to Luke.

"So I've heard." he said as he kissed her on the cheek.

----------------------------

Lorelai lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. She and Luke had spent the night just holding each other. They had not decided to go out into town for anything. They had just spent the whole day together. And once again, Lorelai felt safe. Luke always made her feel warm and secure. He always made her forget that she was in the real world. He could do this with one embrace, one hug, one quick gesture that says 'I love you'. Luke could do this and Lorelai wondered why it had taken so long to find that warmth, that security, that love. And even though she knew in her mind that no matter what, Luke would always be hers, she still felt like she had to be able to fight for him at any given moment. She had to prepare for someone sabotaging their relationship. She had to be prepared to hold on and trust Luke no matter what ex of his came around. She had to be prepared to give him space, but try to keep him close. She had to be prepared. And what she didn't realize was that Luke also needed to be prepared.

Lorelai moved closer to Luke and leaned in on his chest. Luke placed one arm under her shoulder and the other on her arm.

"hey." he whispered.

"You're awake." Lorelai responded.

"So are you."

"Well I couldn't sleep with you so far away from me." she whispered while looking up at him.

Luke just leaned down, kissed her gently and rubbed her arm lightly. Lorelai took that as his response and placed her head on his chest again.

They soon fell asleep in the same position, neither stirring nor moving an inch. It was pure bliss and neither had ever felt as warm, as secure, or as loved as they had at that moment.

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So, do you like my pretty filler? Please review. Ooo! 4 days until my birthday. Are you happy? Well you should be. So please tell me what you think. Was this chapter good, bad, annoying? Tell me! Feed me those beautiful reviews!

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	17. Symbols of My Love

Yay! Today is my birthday! Yay! Yippy! Let's all celebrate with Ducky! Ok, so I decided to give you an extra long chapter, 10 pages total, because I will be getting the majority of gifts today, and you guys deserve one because you put up with me every chapter. And the people who actually review deserve it more of course, and I would love to say that at the end of this chapter, if you could leave me the birthday gift of a review, that would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and there is the beginning of drama in this chapter. Happy?

**Disclaimer: The one thing I won't be getting on my birthday is Gilmore Girls. That makes me sad.**

_Italics are both thoughts and flashbacks. _

**Chapter 17: Symbols of My Love**

"Luke!" Lorelai shouted as she walked into the diner.

"What?" Luke sighed. He had been expecting her for the past twenty minutes.

"I want a burger, fries, more fries, some coffee, pie, cherry preferably, two chocolate donuts, more coffee, ah…can I have some toast, with grape jelly, pancakes, are you getting this all down?" she asked as she saw the astonished look on Luke's face. "What?" she asked.

"Are you seriously going to eat all of that?" she asked.

"Luke, have you hit your head lately? Of course I am going to eat it all! Now chop chop!" she said as she clapped her hands. Luke let out a sigh and retreated into the kitchen to make Lorelai's food. Lorelai then walked over to one of the tables and sat down.

Five minutes later Rory walked in pushing a sleeping Jake in the stroller.

"Hey babe. Back already?" Lorelai asked as Rory sat across from her at the table.

"Well I know I promised I would take him off your hands for the whole day, but I just got a call from Paris and she needs me there in an hour to do something having to do with the paper. She didn't tell me what but it's Paris so she probably screwed up or something like that. Is that ok?" Rory asked, not wanting to upset her mother.

"Yeah! It's fine! I'm goin' to do some shopping for pop tarts and coffee later. Luke refuses to buy it now." Lorelai said.

"No! What is he thinking? Cutting off a Gilmore from her precious life!" Rory exaggerated.

"I don't know! I think we might have to up his dosage!" she suggested.

"Whose dosage?" Luke asked as he walked over with all of her food.

"Yours!" Lorelai said excitedly. Luke looked at her oddly. "Hey, where's the coffee?" she asked as she finally noticed the absence of her lovely choice a death-inducer.

"The doctor said no. you heard her, I heard her, I am pretty sure that I could get a signed confession from her that she said that. We have gone over this already. No coffee." he said as he placed the last plate on the table as he remembered the doctor's appointment.

_"Yay! Aren't you happy? Huh, huh? Aren't you Luke?" she asked as they walked into the building, arm in arm. Lorelai was jumping up and down while Luke was trying to hide how amused he was. _

_"Ecstatic." He responded dryly. _

_"Oh come on! Luke! This is your baby!" Lorelai said as she placed her hand on her abdomen. "You get to see it on a screen! Well, maybe. But we will definitely be getting confirmation that you are indeed going to be a daddy! How can you not be excited about that?" she asked in disbelief. _

_"By not being you." he said. _

_"You know you love me. I mean come one, with this face, look at the pout," she demanded._

_"Lorelai." _

_"Look at the pout." she repeated. _

_"fine." he said as he looked straight into her eyes. God she's beautiful. He thought._

_"Isn't it a good pout?" she asked. _

_"Yes, it is a good pout." Luke said as if she had exhausted him with that one little look. _

_"Yes it is. So boy or girl?" she asked._

_"Ah," he sighed. "We have discussed this at least 7 times in the past 24 hours. And each time what do I tell you?" he asked. _

_"Actually it's 8 times." Lorelai corrected._

_"I tell you that I don't care. And then you go on about those lists, and I tell you how pointless you are, and then you go on about how I don't love you and how I am mean, and how I am going to give birth next time." he rants. _

_"You forgot coffee. Coffee is normally in that conversations somewhere." she corrected again. Luke threw up his hands and sighed. _

_"The work!" he complained. Lorelai laughed at this._

_"May I help you?" the woman at the reception desk asked. _

_"Ah, yes. Lorelai Gilmore." Lorelai said as the woman flipped through one of her books. _

_"Yes. So if you could please go and take a seat the doctor should be with you shortly." the secretary said as she pointed to an area of about ten chairs. _

_"Ok, thank you." Lorelai said as she led Luke over to the chairs. _

_Luke and Lorelai sat in silence for ten minutes, both thinking about being parents again, both in their own little worlds. _

_"Lorelai Gilmore?" the secretary said. _

_Lorelai stood up and pulled Luke with her. That's right; he hasn't ever been to one of these. She reminded herself. _

_As they entered the room, Luke got a queasy feeling. Lorelai noticed this. _

_"You ok?" she asked. _

_"The smell." he said. "Where's the bathroom?" he asked. Lorelai pointed him in the direction of the bathrooms and he went straight towards it. And I thought it was just hospitals. She thought. As soon as Luke exited the room, the doctor entered. _

_"Hello Lorelai. Nice to see you again. So what are you here for today?" she asked as she pulled out a folder. _

_"Well I think I'm pregnant." Lorelai said happily. _

_"That's wonderful. So…the father is…" she started. She didn't know where the father for the last child was but she had noticed that there had been an absence of one. Where was the father of this one? _

_"In the bathroom actually. He doesn't like the smell of hospitals or doctors' offices." she said. _

_"Ok, so when was the last time you menstruated?" _

_"It must have been about seven weeks ago I think." Lorelai answered. "And I took a home pregnancy test and it came out positive." Lorelai added. _

_"Ok, well I'm just going to take some blood to just check to see if you're pregnant." she said as Luke walked in. _

_"What'd I miss?" he asked. Lorelai stood up and kissed him lightly._

_"Nothing much. We were just talking about how I get to have half of the blood taken out of me to make sure that I am pregnant." she exaggerated. _

_"Well actually, I think that we can take the blood now, and I can rush it to the lab and then I will come back and talk to you about some things. Ok?" the doctor said. _

_"Sure." Lorelai said hesitantly. _

_----------------------------_

_"So, it seems you are pregnant. Congratulations to both of you. Now I need to talk to you about your eating habits." the doctor said when she came back 15 minutes later. _

_Lorelai sighed while Luke just glanced at Lorelai quickly. _

_"So, you have said before that you are a big fan of the coffee, well you need to either cut down or just cut it out completely. Caffeine is not good for the baby. And also, I would like to see you cut back on your foods that are packed with sugar. You should start to eat more fruits, vegetables, and things like that." she said. _

_"What did I tell you about the coffee?" Luke said to Lorelai. _

_"That it's bad, but you think that staying up past 10 is bad grandpa." she said to him. "You can't cut me off from my life! I need the coffee!" she whined stubbornly. _

_"Well I guess cutting back as much as possible is the right answer then. I will give you some prenatal vitamins before you leave also. Now, onto risks." she said. Lorelai's pout immediately turned into a frown. "So you are 37 now, I believe?" the doctor asked. _

_"38 actually." Lorelai corrected._

_"Ok, well there are many risks of older woman having children. I am sure you know all of these from the last time you were pregnant?" the doctor asked. _

_"Yes I do remember." Lorelai answered. _

_"And you do know that it is more likely for you to miscarry?" she asked. Lorelai hadn't thought about this. _

_"Well I just assumed seeing as everything else that can go wrong is more likely as you get older." Lorelai joked trying to lighten the mood. Luke looked like he was about to have a stoke. He was freaking out inside and was having trouble taking in all of this information. Lorelai would have to fill him in later about the 'other problems' that could occur. _

_"Well it is not extremely common, and after the first ten weeks, it becomes very rare that you find a woman having a miscarriage. You are in your 7th week so you are pretty safe so far." the doctor informed. Luke let out a big breathe that he had been holding in for the past five minutes. _

_"There is also the chance that your child could have a range of defects. Do either of you have any history of certain defects in your families?" the doctor asked. Luke's jaw almost fell to the floor. So along with those extra toes and limbs, his kid would have a hole in its back? He thought._

"But no one listens to the doctor!" Lorelai said as she waved off his comment. "Plus she said that I had to cut down as much as possible. I didn't have to be cut off from it completely." she pointed out.

"I think you could possibly cut coffee out of your diet completely." he said with a smile on his face.

"And I think you are crazy. Get me coffee! Don't make me throw a temper tantrum in front of all of your paying customers Luke." she threatened.

"One cup! And that's it! No more! I refuse to give you any more today after this cup!" he told her as he went to go retrieve the coffee pot and a cup for Lorelai.

"Wrapped around my finger." Lorelai said contently as she and Rory watched him grab their life in a cup.

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"Lorelai Hunny! Lorelai!" Babette called in her raspy voice as she ran as fast as she could towards Lorelai who was pushing Jake home in the stroller.

"Babette. What's the matter?" Lorelai asked worriedly.

"Is it true?" Babette asked with her eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"Is what true?" Lorelai asked. She was now extremely confused.

"Is it true you're pregnant?" Babette asked as if it was a normal thing to ask someone if they are pregnant.

"Luke will be so happy to know it's out." Lorelai laughed to herself.

"So it's true?" Babette asked, trying to confirm Kirk's statement.

"Yes it's true. How did you hear that?"

"well Rory bought a pregnancy test a week or so ago and you told me yesterday that Rory hasn't dated in a while and you are the only other person I could think she was getting it for." Babette said as she flailed her arms in the air.

"How about Paris? Or Lane? Or another one of her friends." Lorelai suggested.

"I didn't think about that. But you are still pregnant?" Babette asked worriedly.

"Well I don't think this thing has popped out of me in the past five minutes so I have to say yes." Lorelai said trying to hold back the laughter that she could feel rise within her.

"Oh, ok. Well I have to go tell Patty! Bye doll!" She said as she rushed over to her house. "Morey!" She yelled as she ran.

"Yeah?" He yelled back.

"Lorelai's pregnant again!" Babette screeched again.

"Congratulations!" Morey yelled to Lorelai.

"Thanks. You guys take care!" Lorelai yelled back as she made her way into her own house.

She stepped into the house and unbuckled the sleeping eighth month old from the stroller and carefully carried him up the stairs.

It had been two weeks since Luke and Lorelai had found out that there would be a new addition to the family. For this reason, they had given more money to Tom to finish Jake's room which would soon become Jake's and the new baby's room.

She opened the door to the room. It had a light yellow painted wall. Lorelai had wanted to put some elephant wall paper up, but Luke had thought that it would be too girl. How Luke had found elephants to be girly, Lorelai would never know. Of course they had been ballerina elephants so that might have caused Luke to say no. they had later resolved to wait to decorate the room further only after they had found out the sex of the baby.

Lorelai turned on the light to reveal the dark blue carpet that covered the floor. Within the room there was the crib of course in the back left corner of the room. On the other side of the room there was the little dresser that was white with stenciling of little baseballs and baseball bats that Luke had finished two nights previously. It was so sweet to see Luke do that for Jake and Lorelai could only imagine how sweet he would be once they found out the sex of this baby.

_"Luke, Hun, come to bed." Lorelai urged Luke who was stenciling the baseball paraphernalia onto the dresser. _

_"Just give me a few more minutes." he answered without looking up. _

_"Luke, Jake is not going to care when you finish that, now come to bed. I'm tired and the bed feels empty without you." she said quietly._

_"Five minutes." he said. _

_"One." _

_"Four."_

_"Two." _

_"three." he bargained._

_"Fine, three. But then I better see your butt in bed mister. What would I do without you as my pillow?" she asked. _

_"Ah…use the real one?" he suggested. Lorelai sighed. _

_"Just finish your stencils. You have two minutes now." she said as she walked back into her bedroom with the last image in her head being of Luke working vigorously to finish the stencil work he put so much time into. _

There was also a bed stand right next to the door that had a petit, cream colored lamp on it. Right next to the stand was the rocking chair that both Lorelai and Luke used, depending on who was getting out of bed to get Jake. The small lamp was what was lighting the room, but it was only giving off a small glow, enough so that Lorelai could find her way over to the crib.

She placed the sleeping child into the crib, kissing his forehead and heading towards the door. She turned the light off, turned the baby monitor on, and then left the room.

----------------------------

"Sookie!" Lorelai said as she bounced into the kitchen.

"Why you're in a very good mood today. Why? Hey, where's Jake?" Sookie asked as she accidentally flung boiling water into some guy's eye. He stumbled back as two others rushed to his side.

"It's Thursday. It's Luke's day to watch him!" Lorelai said happily.

"Ok, so why are you so happy?" Sookie asked.

"No reason. Well, except for last night with Luke. Thanks for watching Jake while we went to dinner by the way." Lorelai thanked.

"Your welcome. Did you guys get a chance to…you know?" Sookie asked.

"Well after we picked up Jake and put him to bed we did." Lorelai answered as she poured herself some coffee. She put it up to her lips.

"No!" Sookie screamed as she lunged for the cup. She missed her target by about three feet and ran into one of the new staff that they had hired earlier that month.

"Are you ok Sookie?" Lorelai asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, just don't drink the coffee." Sookie said as she was helped up by three of the staff.

"What? Why?" Lorelai asked.

"Because Luke gave me strict orders not to let you have coffee." Sookie admitted.

"When did he tell you this?" Lorelai asked in astonishment.

"Ah, a week ago. Right after the town found out about you being pregnant." Sookie told Lorelai. She had a hint of guilt in her voice.

"Ah! Sookie! You never ever listen to Luke! You listen to me! I'm your best friend!" Lorelai said.

"I know, but I have heard how bad caffeine is for the baby while you are pregnant. I was pregnant once. And then another time before that too. I know these things." Sookie said.

"But it's just a clump of cells attacked to my uterus! It resembles a french-fry!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Fine, but don't tell Luke." Sookie pleaded.

"I won't tell him you let me drink the coffee but I will give him hell for thinking he could turn my best friend against me!" Lorelai said as she stormed out of the kitchen and into her office. She dialed the all too familiar phone number to the diner and waited for someone to pick up.

"Luke's."

"What were you thinking?" Lorelai yelled at him through the phone.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked.

"No! The tooth fairy! Of course it's me! How dare you go behind my back and have Sookie refuse to give me coffee! Lucas Danes!" she yelled at him. Those hormones were rising.

"Lorelai, too much coffee is not good for the baby." he stated calmly.

"I don't give a damn! You can make me eat salads, and you can make me take those disgusting vitamins every morning but under no circumstances will you ever, I repeat, ever, mess with my coffee! Do you understand me Luke? If you try and make me go one day without it, I will kill you! I will make you wish that you had never been born. Now I understand that it was cute this whole 'no coffee' thing for the first few weeks, but now it is starting to piss me off! Do not ever come between me and my coffee, again!" she yelled as she hung up the phone. _What the hell was that? _She thought. _What am I doing? I hate mood swings. Well I guess I have to call him back. _

"Luke's" a very annoyed diner owner answered.

"I'm sorry." Lorelai said.

"Lorelai--" he started.

"It's these stupid hormones. They start off horribly. I promise it should get better. But I am so sorry. I didn't mean to explode on you like that. Especially over coffee." she said. _How much do you want to bet this conversation would win for America's funniest home video? _

"It's ok. I just want you to know that I did it only because I don't want this kid to have an extra eye and an arm sticking out of it's back." he said.

"Well they would be unique. You gotta give 'em that." she joked.

"So we're good?" he asked.

"We're good, and I just want to tell you that I have cut down Luke. I don't drink more than a cup a day. I do know that caffeine is not good for the baby, but it's my body. And I have it all under control. Ok?"

"Ok. So I'll see you at what time?" Luke asked.

"Well I have to stay late tonight. I will probably be home until 7. What about you?" she asked him. God she hated late nights.

"I am planning on closing up around 5:30. I have that crib that I'm working on and I want to get some of that done." he told her.

Luke had also been working on the new baby's crib over the past couple weeks too. Lorelai would just stay up late and watch him work. Luke would always tell her to just go to bed, but she was so happy just watching Luke work on the crib. Luke was so sweet and that was what Lorelai loved about him. It was so cute how he talked to the baby when he thought that she was sleeping and how he talked to Jake when he was rocking him to sleep. Lorelai just loved Luke.

"Ok, so I'll see you later tonight. Bye Luke."

"Bye." and then they both hung up.

Lorelai walked back into the kitchen to see how Sookie was doing along with the guy with the newly burnt eye.

"Sookie. Hey." she said as she entered the kitchen. "Did you rush that guy to the hospital?" Lorelai asked.

"What guy?" Sookie asked.

"The guy…with the hot water…that was splashed in his eye." Lorelai tried to refresh Sookie's memory.

"Someone got hot water splashed in their eye?" Sookie asked as she started to freak out. Lorelai looked over at one of the guys who nodded. _So they did go to the hospital._

"No, I must be mistaken. Nothing happened Sookie." Lorelai said trying to calm her friend down.

"Oh, ok. I thought you meant that someone here got hot water splashed in there eye! I mean, who would do such a thing?" she asked as she started to slow her breathing.

"I don't know Sookie. Maybe someone on the verge of insanity." Lorelai suggested.

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Three weeks had passes and each night Lorelai had ended up staying at work until 7 each night. She kept thinking to herself that she would never leave work early again. Ever. She was now in her 13 week of pregnancy and the vomiting had started to subside.

"Hey Lorelai. I'm leaving now. You'll be ok?" Sookie asked. It was 6, the time that Sookie normally left the inn.

"Yah, I'll be fine. You go home and spend some time with your man." Lorelai joked knowing that Sookie would probably spend the whole night trying to put Martha to sleep. Poor Sookie.

"Night Hunny. Make sure you don't over work yourself." Sookie said.

"Well I need to get caught up because of me leaving early all of those nights a few weeks ago. But I'll make sure to leave soon. You just go home and try to relax. You deserve it."

"Ok, bye." Sookie giggled.

"Bye Sook." Lorelai said cheerfully. Her smile vanished when she saw the stack of paper in front of her. _This is going to be a long night._ She then picked up her pen and went back to work.

-------------------

It was 9 before Lorelai realized that she had to get home. She hadn't even noticed the time and she hadn't thought to call before she left. She quickly gathered her things and headed out of her office.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been here this late. Probably never. It was silent and empty. The dining room looked so deserted and no one was to be seen in any other room except for a maid that was sweeping the hallway. Lorelai made sure the computer at the front was turned off and she made sure that all of the things at the front desk were in order before she made her way out to her jeep.

-----------------

"Ah!" Lorelai screamed as she opened the door and everything she was holding fell to the floor. "Damn it!" she said quietly. It was only after she had put her purse by the door and had picked up the things that had fallen to the floor that she noticed that all the lights were off except for the one for the hallway upstairs. _What? _She thought.

As she walked past the kitchen something caught her eye. She walked into the kitchen and saw candles. There were candles on the table. They looked as if they had been lit and then blown out a while ago. She then saw the empty plate at her spot at the table. In Luke's place there was plate with some food still on it. _What is going on? What--oh no!_ She thought.

She dropped what she was carrying and raced up the stairs. She looked into their bedroom. The light was on but the covers were pulled back on Luke's side of the bed and the door was wide open. Lorelai then heard something that heard like whispers coming from Jake's room. She moved closer and pressed her ear against the door.

"…and if that looking glass gets broke, daddy's goin' buy you a Billy goat. And if that Billy goat won't pull, daddy's goin' buy you a cart and a…bull." Lorelai could hear Luke singing a lullaby to Jake and by the sound of it, Luke knew it pretty well. How long had he been singing these lullabies to Jake without Lorelai knowing? Lorelai could hear Luke get up from the rocking chair that he must have been sitting in and walk across the room. Lorelai waited for Luke to come out. When the door opened and Luke saw Lorelai, he just walked right by her.

"I'm so sorry Luke. I really am I just--" she started to apologize.

"whatever." he said as he pulled off his shirt and pants. It was too hot to wear much to bed.

"I really am. I just lost track of time. And I have needed to get caught up lately because of those few weeks in the past that I spent most of my time with you and— " she rambled.

"It's fine." Luke said as he climbed into bed and faced away from Lorelai.

"Luke." Lorelai pleaded.

"What do you want from me!" he yelled as he sat straight up.

"I want to talk about this." she said.

"You said you would be home at 7. You somehow lost track of time for two hours Lorelai? And even then you could have called!"

"I'm sorry." she said quietly. Luke's mouth was open and his jaw was about three inches from the ground. Luke grabbed his pillow off the bed and walked out of the room with Lorelai walking close behind. "What are you doing Luke?" she asked.

"I can't sleep in the same bed as you tonight. I'll see you in the morning." he said as he walked down the stairs.

"Luke! I said I'm sorry! And I did lose track of time." She said trying to convince him. But what Lorelai didn't know was that Luke's attitude was for another reason.

"How do you lose track of time for two hours!" he yelled.

"I don't know." she whispered. They both stood there for a few seconds before Luke spoke up.

"Goodnight." he said seriously as he went to retrieve a blanket from the closet in the hallway.

Lorelai slowly retreated back to her room where she got under the covers. She curled up and cried herself to sleep.

----------------------

Luke lay on the couch just staring at the white ceiling. All his thoughts were swimming around what had happened earlier and what Lorelai didn't know she did. She had come home the night that Luke had planned to propose. And that broke Luke's heart. He had had this planned out for the past week, and he had wanted to propose ever since he had come back 4 months ago.

He thought about how he had made gotten home at 5 and started making the food the moment he stepped foot into the house that evening. He thought of how while the food cooked he had carefully placed the frame of the crib together, making sure that it was safe to hold the weight of ten children. He thought of how he only took a break from that to check on Jake who was quietly playing with his toys and to make sure that the food was perfect. He had made desert for her. He had made her a cherry pie; he had done everything besides putting out alcohol.

By 7 he had gotten Jake to go to sleep miraculously, and Luke was lighting the candles he had placed on the table. He had the box that contained the ring in his pocket. He had made sure to shave and clean the house, and by 7:30 he had started to get worried.

He had sat at that table for an hour. An hour he just sat there and waited. He called the inn but no one answered. He called her cell phone; it was turned off. He had spent 60 minutes waiting patiently, alone, and sad, in the kitchen. At 8, he just decided to grab a few bites and then go up stairs and do some reading. He took a bite of the food on his plate and then deserted it. He blew out the candles, turned off all of the lights, and then walked up the stairs.

His heart had broken in half at that moment. What was so important that she couldn't call him and say she was going to be late? If something had happened to her or Rory, the hospital would have contacted him by now. But no. no call. No warning. No 'I'm running a little late tonight, I'll be home in an hour.'

Luke lay on the bed reading the baby books he had picked up a few weeks previously while in Hartford for a meeting with the bank. He had never been so mesmerized by a concept before. Luke was fascinated with the thought of a little baby growing inside of Lorelai. Whenever the baby was mentioned, Luke's face lit up. Luke had never seen this baby but there it was, the love. He loved this little clump pf cells more than you would think. Normally he would deny it and say that men can't love clumps of cells, but Luke didn't deny it. If someone asked why he was so happy he would answer 'Lorelai had an appointment today.' or just the simple 'I'm going to be a father again.' answer. Whenever he and Lorelai would go to an appointment, his eyes would widen at the sight of his baby on the ultrasound machine. A smile would spread across his face, and everything in life was wonderful.

At around 8:45, he had heard Jake crying and had gone into sooth him. He had sung him songs that Luke's mother had sung to him as a child. Luke had talked to Jake about being a big brother and how a big brother should always protect his little brother or sister. Luke was just so wrapped up in his kids. He had never seen why people do the things they do for their kids until he had held his child in his arm. That night had been no different. Luke had held Jake and sung him songs, watched him drift off into a deep slumber, and then had thought about how when Jake was a little older, Luke would teach him how to play baseball, how to add his numbers, how to ride a bike, how to fish, how to be a big brother.

Luke had heard Lorelai scream but he had ignored it. He was not in the mood for her apologies. He was not in the mood for her jokes. He was not in the mood to rip his heart anymore. So when he came out and she tried to explain things, he just blew her off. He had planned the whole evening out. He had made more food than Lorelai could eat in a year. He had cleaned the house, lit candles, and gotten the ring. He had sat there waiting for her to come home. He had waited for an hour while she was out doing god knows what. He had planned to propose and he felt like he had been rejected in some way. He couldn't sleep with that in the same bed. He couldn't stand the thought that she was lying happily next to him while he was miserable. So he exploded and slept on the couch.

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So, who likes it? Remember, it's my birthday today, so give me those pretty little presents wrapped up in nice little words. Let me just say that I like long reviews the best, hint, hint. Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like, tell me what you think is funny. Is it too rushed? Do you have any ideas as to what is going to happen next? What will Luke do? What will Lorelei do? How will Jake and the baby be affected by this?

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	18. Loss, Fear, and Fault

Oh wow. It's been what, a week and a half since I last posted a chapter? That a long time for me, but have no fear, ducky with her writers block issues is here! I'm sorry this is short, but I'm had a lot of homework, after school things, and of course, my family to deal with. I understand that those excuses are getting kind of old, but that's all I got. So here it is the next dramatic chapter. Please refrain from killing me. You'll see why I just requested that when you read more.

_Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything. Do you think if I did that I would be here writing these sad chapters for attention? I didn't think so. _

**Chapter 18: Loss, Fear, and Fault**

Lorelai woke up around 5:00 in the morning with horrible cramps. "oh god." she moaned in pain. She slowly got out of bed to find it covered in blood along with the crotch of her pants. Lorelai rushed to the bathroom where she quickly went to the bathroom. When she stood up there was blood mixed with the water in the toilet.

"oh no." she said. She quickly threw on some clean clothes, threw the bloody sheets into the black trash bag that was in the corner of her room (making sure Luke would not spot them) and rushed down the stairs as quietly as she could.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked.

"uh yeah. I'm just going out to get some food. I am having some major cravings and I didn't want to get you up. So, I'm going to go. Bye Luke." she said as she quickly rushed out the door. She then got hit by a major cramp and nearly collapsed on the ground.

It took her a couple minutes but she soon was able to get to the jeep and drive off towards the hospital.

----------------

Lorelai arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later in such pain that she was surprised she had made it there in one piece. She made her way into the emergency entrance where she collapsed on the floor and blacked out.

--------------

"Miss. Miss. Miss." a nurse tried to wake her. As Lorelai opened her eyes she saw the tubes she was hooked up to and then she saw someone vaguely familiar walk in. it was her doctor.

"I'll take it from here." she had informed the nurse. "hey Lorelai. Rough night?" she said as she sat down on the chair next to the bed that Lorelai was in.

"I guess." Lorelai answered groggily.

"well I have some bad news for you." she said looking down at the folder in her hand. Why did doctors always have some sort of folder in their hand? Was it part of the job description because what was the point of it? Oh yeah, to tell them what's wrong with her. Lorelai looked at her worriedly.

"what? what's wrong with me?" Lorelai asked frantically.

"We have given you some medication to ease the cramps but I am sorry to say that you have lost the baby. " the doctor answered in a voice that sounded like she was trying to show sympathy.

"Wha…what? I'm not…I'm not pregnant anymore?" Lorelai stammered.

"No, you're not. It seems you miscarried." She informed the hysterical Lorelai.

"But…but you said that after the 10th week that I wouldn't have a miscarriage." Lorelai said.

"I said it was rare. And it is. You just happen to be one of those rare cases."

"but…why?" Lorelai asked in confusion. Why did this happen to her of all people? Hadn't she had enough disappointments in life? Didn't the world owe her something? didn't she deserve to have some sort of happiness after the life she had as a child, then her relationship problem with all the men in her past, her current problems with Luke, and now this? How was this fair in anyway?

"We don't know. It could have been for multiple reasons. A genetic defect, a recent injury, stress, a key dietary need missing in your daily intake, just a mistake in the signals between the fetus and your body. We'll be able to tell you most likely after we run some tests. " she explained. Lorelai could only think about how it was her fault. Her fault that all of this had happened. She didn't know how, but it was, and she could fix it. "I'm sorry. I truly am. Is there any one you would like me to call?" the doctor said as she placed her hand on Lorelai's, trying to comfort her.

"Rory. Could you call my daughter Rory up?" Lorelai asked.

"sure." the doctor answered as she got up to go make the call.

She didn't want to tell Luke yet. This baby had made things so much better between them. This baby had brought so many obstacles that Luke and Lorelai had overcome; this only made their relationship stronger. Luke was already three fourths done with the crib. Now after last night, telling Luke might anger him further.

"oh my god. My baby's gone." Lorelai exclaimed as she started to sob. She felt so empty. She felt like all of her happiness had been ripped from her. "my baby's gone." she whispered as she curled up into a ball and cried.

Ten minutes later, Rory arrived. They had not told her what had happened exactly but she knew it had to do with her mother and that was all that mattered. She was pointed in the direction of the room and ran down the hall.

"mom?" she said a she burst through the door. Lorelai looked up.

"Rory?" she said quietly.

"mom, what happened? What's a matter?" she said as she rushed to her mother's side.

"the baby…the baby…" she stammered but she couldn't get it out.

"the baby? What's wrong with the baby? Is it ok?" Rory asked frantically. Lorelai shook her head and burst into tears again. "mom. What happened to the baby?" Rory asked as she tried to soothe her mother.

"the baby's gone." she said through the sobs.

"shhhh, it's ok mom." Rory said trying to now calm her mother.

"It's not ok! My baby's gone and it's all my fault! I did something and it killed my baby! Luke will never look at me again. He was so happy when he found out about the baby. He was so loving and that's all he can talk about. Could. That's all he could talk about. He's going to be so disappointed with me! Why did this have to happen now? And after last night with the fight! You should have seen him the other day at the doctor's office. We were talking about what we were going to do to the room when we found out the sex of the baby a month from now. But now it's gone. The baby is gone and it's all my fault!" Lorelai exclaimed through the sobs.

"mom, don't say that." Rory comforted. "you couldn't do anything about it." she said as she smoothed her mother's hair as Lorelai cried into Rory's shoulder. "what happened between you and Luke?" Rory inquired.

"We got into a fight." she said. She dried a few of tears, but they were only replaced by a few more. "I got home about two hours after I said I would be. I lost track of time, and I think Luke thinks I was out doing something with some guy or something. He asked as if I had betrayed him and cheated on him." she said. She was still confused why Luke had been extremely mad. Normally he would have been angry, but not that much, and he would be more worried, but last night was different. Last night he was acting as if she had rejected him somehow. "and now he's going to just leave! I killed his unborn child! Why did I do that Rory? Why?" she sobbed some more.

"it's not your fault mom! Stop saying that! You did NOT kill the baby, it just happened, you couldn't have helped it. Ok?" Rory said. Lorelai just moved her head up and down against Rory's shoulder, signaling that she agreed. "Now the doctors said I can take you home in a few hours after they have done some more tests. Would you like me to call anyone? Sookie? Grandma and grandpa? Luke?" she added the last name cautiously.

"Sookie…call Sookie." Lorelai said as she wiped away her tears.

------------------------------

Three hours later Sookie, Rory, and Lorelai had arrived home and to Lorelai surprise, there was no sign of Luke. She looked at Rory confusedly.

"I told him you were with me and then I asked him if he could watch Jake today." Rory answered her mother's look. Lorelai just nodded. Lorelai had not spoken a word since they had left the hospital and that scared both Sookie and Rory. Even in the worst of situations Lorelai normally babbled, not became a mute.

All three of them walked into the house in total silence. Lorelai saw that the food and the candles were still on the kitchen table; Luke had not cleaned it up. The house was dark for a midsummer morning and silence filled the room until Sookie decided to break it.

"do you want anything to eat?" she asked Lorelai. Lorelai slowly shook her head and walked up the stairs to her room. Sookie flashed a quick concerned look to Rory, who had the same look on her face.

"Sookie, can you just go and make some coffee or something. I'll go talk to her." Rory instructed as she followed her mother up the stairs.

Rory found her mother looking intently at the bed which lay untouched. It was stripped of it's sheets and the blankets lay strew all over the room. _mom must have done this this morning._ Rory thought.

"mom?" Rory questioned.

"here. I lost it here." Lorelai explained.

"mom…don't do this to yourself." Rory pleaded.

"do what Rory? Put the blame where it belongs? I lost the baby! The baby that was living inside of me for over three months is now dead! Gone! How is that not my fault? My body did this! It's not your fault your little brother or sister isn't going to be born! It's not Sookie's! it's not Jake's! it's certainly not Luke's! and as much as I would love to, I can't blame your grandmother! Who's left? Who's left Rory?" Lorelai screamed as she broke out into more sobs and collapsed onto the floor. Rory rushed to her mother's side and held her.

"shhhh, it's not your fault. The doctor said it was stress. It was you overworking yourself. So if you want, you can blame Michel." Rory joked.

"it doesn't matter anymore." Lorelai said, finding it hard to talk through her sobs. "my baby's gone. My baby's gone." Lorelai cried as she clutched her abdomen.

After about 15 minutes of Lorelai sobbing into Rory's shoulder, Lorelai got up to go to the bathroom. She had been told by the doctor to treat this like any other period.

_Any other period? I lose that baby that has been growing inside of me for three months and I have to treat it like any other period? Are they trying to be assholes? Am I supposed to just forget that I was ever pregnant and just get on with life? Is that what they want me to do? Well screw them! They think that they know everything with their fancy little medical degrees but when it comes to actual human communications, they suck! I can't believe them! It's just so insensitive to just say 'well you lost your baby, move on, and have a nice day!'. but they didn't really say that. Well it was pretty damn close! _Lorelai argued in her head.

When she returned to the room, the bed had sheets on it and was neatly made.

"I made your bed." Rory said quietly. Lorelai smiled. After 18 years of taking care of each other, Rory was now taking care of her mother.

"thanks." Lorelai whispered with a small smile on her face.

"do you need anything?" Rory asked.

"no, I'm good. Oh wait, can you go watch Jake. You know, take him around town for the day. Could you actually watch him for tonight. I'm not going to be able to watch him without going insane." she joked as she climbed into bed.

"sure. Anything you need. Well I will go do that, and if you need anything, just call me. Sookie is making you something to eat and then she said she would bring it up. She has to go to work though." Rory informed her mother.

"you guys are too good to me." Lorelai said.

"ok, so bye mom. I love you." Rory said as she kissed her mother on the cheek.

"love you too. Bye babe." and then she watched Rory go downstairs. God this brought back memories. Lorelai thought about how the last time she was in this position was right after her and Luke broke up. Would that happen again? Just then Sookie walked in with a bowl of something.

"I brought you some soup. I have to get back to work. Is there anything else you need?" Sookie asked.

"I'm good. Thanks for helping out Sookie." Lorelai said quietly.

"I'll come to check on you later tonight on my way home after work. There is more soup in the refrigerator if you get hungry again. Ok?" she said.

"ok. I'll see you tonight then. Bye." she said.

"bye." Sookie said before she left. Sookie was still concerned with Lorelai but she couldn't not go to work.

Lorelai realized that she should eat something, she hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, but she wasn't hungry. But she was tired, so she let herself drift off into a restless sleep.

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Planned since the beginning of the story, but it became harder and harder to make myself write it because I was so attached to all of the characters and I just want to make them happy. Does that sound psychotic? Does it sound totally crazy to want to make my characters happy? Oh well, who cares.

Ok, so I had a hard time writing this chapter because let's face it, I got attached to the thought of Lorelai being pregnant. But I had to do it. I have had this

Please review. Remember how hard it was for me to write this. I cried. Can you imagine, I cried while writing this! I have some emotional issues. So please, give me the warm and fuzzies, AKA reviews, and make my day. Tell me what you think. Tell me if you hated it, tell me if you though it was wonderful and you want to have my fic's babies, tell me if you think I need medication ASAP.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	19. Sharing Thoughts is Dangerous

Ok, so hold on here guys. As some of you know, I've fractured one of my fingers, so typing is just a bit harder with the splint on. Now I would also like to say that I'm sorry for having these last chapters take so long. As most of you know, I do have a life, and he decided to show up over the past week or so, and throw my nice little order and time table into chaos. My life doesn't like me. So, now, read on because I know how boring me life can be to you all!

Love me, love, say that you love me! Leave me, leave me, go on and leave me! Catchy little tune right?

Disclaimer: life sucks, I own nothing.

**Chapter 19:Sharing Thoughts is Dangerous**

Lorelai woke up to find the clock telling her it was a little past noon. She was still so tired and depressed from the loss of the baby. That's all she could think about, even while sleeping. She could only feel the emptiness in the pit of her stomach. She had felt sick when she had woken up and she knew it was the fact that there was no more baby inside of her. The nausea might only be caused by a psychological thing, but it was real--not being pregnant and knowing she would never get to hold that baby was making her sick.

She then looked up at the ceiling, willing the tears not to come, and immediately felt the dryness of her mouth. She hadn't had something to drink since last night. She hadn't drunken anything at the hospital because they were pumping the fluids into her. She forced herself up out of bed slowly, trying to keep from bursting into tears.

She didn't know how she would tell Luke. It wasn't something that would just go away like 'oops, I had an extra cup of coffee today.', It was a 'Luke, I lost your baby. Please don't hate me' thing.

Lorelai still couldn't help but blame herself. Maybe is she hadn't been working herself so hard. Maybe if she had listened to Luke a week back when he told her to slow down and take a break. It was her fault she hadn't listened. It was all her fault. But she didn't know that this would be the outcome. If she had, she would have stayed as far away from work as possible. But she didn't know. She didn't know that her stressing out over stupid things at work would kill her baby. She didn't know.

But it was still her fault in her mind. She should have known. She should have been able to see that this was coming. She wasn't getting any younger and the doctor had said that that was a reason to take it slow during this pregnancy. It was her fault she didn't listen. Her fault and now one else's. A tear fell down her face at this thought and she quickly wiped it away.

She exited the room tiredly. She was still getting mild cramps, and add that with the nausea, and you've got yourself a very unenthusiastic Lorelai. She clutched her side as a light pain shot across her abdomen. She winced in pain but stayed standing, using the door frame for support.

Normally she could handle the pain of life, but today, it had not only hit her with the physical pain but the emotional pain too. It was typically one or the other, but life just liked to have some fun every once in a while she thought.

Once the pain had subsided, she started to walk slowly towards the stairs. She could feel the weight of life pressing down on her heart, waiting for it to snap in two. Little did she know that life didn't need to help this process along; someone Lorelai loved was about to do it for her.

She had made her way down the stairs and was now about to head into the kitchen to satisfy her thirst, but her eye caught sight of someone standing in the foyer. It was Luke.

He looked angry. It looked as if he had run to her house with the intent of taking that anger out on someone. Most likely Lorelai seeing as she was the only one at the house. But what had she done? She had come home late last night, but that would never have compelled Luke to express his anger. There must have been more. Or maybe he wasn't mad at her and just needed to vent about something. That might be the case, but either way, Lorelai had to tell him. She had to tell him that she had lost the baby. She had lost one of the two things that gave them a reason to get up in the morning. Jake was the other one, but he was safe with Rory. Lorelai would never hurt him and neither would Luke.

But how should she tell him? How? He was standing there and Lorelai knew that someone had to speak up. Someone had to initiate communications. Lorelai decided she would have to.

"Luke. What are you doing here?" she asked him almost in a whisper. She was still tired and really thirsty. Maybe she could make it into the kitchen while talking to Luke. Or maybe this was one of those things where you have to stand still or the other person thinks you're walking away. Either way, she was not in the mood to talk until she had at least had that cup of water. Maybe if there was enough water, she could drown her sadness in it.

"I was about to ask you the same thing." he retorted. _How can she just stand there, acting as if everything is ok? I've been worried about her for the past two months, making sure she has everything she needs, and this is how she repays me? Does she think I'm stupid? That I don't know what's going on? _He asked himself.

"What?" she asked confusedly. _What is he talking about? This is my house! What the hell is going on inside his head? Why is he being so harsh and cold? Why is Luke acting this way? _

"Last night." he said, trying to refresh her memory. _Don't think I don't know what's going on! I wonder if it's Christopher again this time!_

"What?" she asked still confused. _What the hell is he talking about?_

"Last night you come home two hours late and you come home with the excuse that you didn't realize what time it was. How do you not notice when two hours goes by? And then of course there's this morning. You snuck out of the house at five. You NEVER get up before seven, and then you tell me you're craving something? You know I would have made you anything that you wanted at that moment! Even though we were fighting and I couldn't stand to be near you with the lie you gave me last night, I still would have made you anything you wanted to eat because you're pregnant with my child! And even though all of that has happened, I still love you! How could I have been such an idiot! Do you enjoy making people miserable? Do you enjoy having a secret that you think I won't find out about? Well even after all of that, I still was a little unsure if what I thought was true. Until of course Rory came to tell me that you were with her. You said that you two had made plans for tomorrow and that she had something she had to get done or something today so she couldn't spend any time with you today." he ranted.

"Luke, it's not what it looks like--" she said as she tried to explain. She was too tired to deal with this now, but she had to. She was too depressed to deal with this now, but she had too. She just didn't want to deal with this now, but she had to.

"Are you going to tell me that it doesn't look like you are cheating on me?" he asked. This caught Lorelai by surprise. Her, cheating? After all the love she had for Luke, and now he accuses her of cheating. Why were their lives turning into such a soap opera? Why? Why couldn't it just be some happy little fairy tale? Why? Oh, because it's life. And life is always testing them. But were they going to pass this test, or fail it? _How can he think that I'm cheating on him? How? How the hell did that idea pop into his mind? This is so out of character for Luke to be saying these things and to not be trusting me!_

"Did you just accuse me of cheating?" she asked him. She knew he did but she just wanted to make sure before she jumped to extreme conclusions. _Why is he doing this? Why_? She asked herself.

So not only was she being accused of cheating by someone who would never accuse anyone of such a thing without proof, but she still had to tell him that she had lost the little fetus that they had both looked forward to holding in their arms in six months.

"Well what else could you have been doing? I called you six times last night! You didn't answer. I called your cell, and it was turned off! This morning, I wake up to find you sneaking out at least two hours before you normally wake up! Rory tells me you're with her! She comes and picks Jake up, I don't see you, and so I came here to see what the hell was going on!" he yelled. Lorelai was shocked. They had somehow made it into the kitchen and she was leaning against the table.

"Why would you think I was cheating? Have I ever given you any reason to suspect that I am?" she yelled back.

"Lorelai! You never were one to stick to one guy! After a while, you get bored and just move on to the next!" he yelled at her. Well, it was true. Remember the coffee analogy? It was tearing him up inside to say all of these things, but he had been willing last night, to tell her how much he loved her and to show her he was committed to her by proposing, and now she was sneaking out of the house, coming home late, avoiding him. What else could it be? He didn't want to accuse her, but he was pretty damn sure that that was what was going on.

"How dare you! How dare you accuse me of having sex with another man! Are you too damn stupid to see that I love you? Are you?" she yelled back as tears streamed down her face. She could feel the tear in her heart stretch farther and farther.

"Then what the hell was last night, and this morning? What was that?" he yelled. Lorelai couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't. Luke was pushing her too far and she was about ready to just tell him to leave her life forever. Maybe she would.

Even though he had given so much to her, she had given so much back. She had been the one to lighten up Luke's days; she had been the one to help him when he really needed it. She had always cared. And when they had finally gotten together, she had always been there. She may have had some truth issues, but he had his trust issues. Lorelai had been pregnant for 9 months with his son. She had pushed him out of her, given him Luke's name. She had never even thought of doing that with Rory. But every time she made a decision regarding Jake, she always thought 'what would Luke do?'. She had given him all of her love. He had gotten more than any other man had ever dreamed of. Lorelai would die for Luke, but he didn't care. He didn't see. He just had insecurities mixed with trust issues.

"Get the hell out of my house!" she yelled in anger. She knew that if he stayed any longer she might actually hurt him. She had just lost her baby and was now being accused of cheating. She couldn't take it. She needed him out.

"What?" Luke asked in confusion. _Did she just tell me to leave? Her house? But…but what about the baby? What about Jake_? He thought to himself.

"Luke, get the hell out of this house. I can't stand it anymore! You are always accusing me of doing something with some other man! First it was Christopher and now some other mystery guy you have created in your head! Just leave Luke. Don't come back. I don't want to see your face again." she spat at him.

"But what about the baby?" he whispered. He didn't want to be cut off from the child that would be entering the world in six months. He didn't want to be cut off from this baby's life too. She had already done that with Jake, and now she was trying to repeat the process all over again.

"Oh! So now you care? Well there is no more baby! This morning, I rushed out of the house to the hospital only to find out that I lost it! I lost the baby! There! You happy now? That's why I 'snuck' out! " She yelled through the tears that were now pouring freely down her face.

"Lorelai, I'm--" he started to apologize. As he reached out his arms towards her. _What does he think I'll do? Just forgive him like that? Just let him back in? just pretend like he does trust me? That he does think I'm telling the truth? _

"No Luke. Stay away from me." she said, pushing his arm away from her. "Don't even think about saying sorry. Just get out. No amount of hugs or kisses can change the fact that you just accused me of sleeping with another man! I've been here all day wondering if you would hate me, or if you would leave me, but now I just see that you are filled with unreasonable jealousy! I've been here CRYING" she screamed, "all damn morning long because my baby's gone, Luke! It's gone! I keep thinking it's my fault, it's my fault this baby will not be born, and maybe that is true, but I don't want your sympathies, you comforting, just because I've been going through this pain. You should be here giving that comfort even when I'm not in pain, even when I'm not dying of guilt!"" she said. She was amazed that he thought that she would give in this time. She was amazed that he thought that she would just let him back into her bed and heart.

"Lorelai, please. I didn't--" he tried again. He knew he had screwed up. He knew that she probably wouldn't let him back in right away, but he had to try. He had to find a way to make things better.

"Please just go Luke. I can't…I can't talk…I can't talk about this with you. Please just go." she pleaded. She didn't see Luke as an equal anymore. She didn't see him as her friend anymore. She didn't see him as her confident anymore. She didn't see him as someone she could ever love again anymore.

"Why?" he asked. He was still processing the thought of not having that baby in his arms in 6 months. He was still trying to imagine a life without another baby. He had immediately latched onto the idea of another life joining the family, and now she was telling him to just let it go. Let the thought of that happy family go. Let it all just go and start over. Without Lorelai of course.

"Because it hurts to talk about it! I lost my child that was growing inside of me, and it hurts to talk about it Luke! I used to be able to talk to you about these things, but now I can't. You aren't the man I used to know, you aren't the loving, trusting man I let into my heart! You aren't the man that I made love to almost every night for the past five months. You aren't that man Luke. And it hurts to talk to you more than you will ever know! It's tearing me up inside to even think about it! And you have just added to that pain! Just leave! For Christ's sake, just leave!" she yelled. Luke slowly backed away from her and made his way to the front door. Before he left he shouted to her.

"You may not want me around but you have no right to keep me from Jake!" this made Lorelai shed even more tears as she fell to the floor. She felt so exhausted. She slowly lifted herself up and got herself a drink. She then noticed how Sookie had cleaned up the table and had removed the candles. Sookie had to be the best friend Lorelai had ever had. Besides Luke of course. Lorelai burst into tears again as she made her way into the living room and sat down on the couch.

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Please warn me before you throw the rotten tomatoes. Remember, girl with a splint! Cut some slack! Please? Ok, so I think you all should review. If I could go through the pain of not only fracturing my finger, but writing this chapter only a day afterwards, then I think you can take three seconds to review. Or more if you feel like really making my finger heal faster. It's a really big fan of my reviewers.

And I love to hear what you think of my story so far. I've gotten many reviews saying they like it, and some saying they don't. I enjoy both kinds of reviews, especially when you say why you hate or love it. Remember, Ducks have feeling too, we don't like feeling ignored.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	20. Life Pushed Her Down the Stairs

**Ha! Ducky's back after almost two weeks without updating or even speaking to any of you fine people! Am I crazy? Wait, don't answer that. ok, so I have been quite busy lately, and now that I'm doing track (please kill me), I won't be on as much as I am now, so that means I'll be on maybe once a month...maybe two times a year...no, I just won't be on during weekdays and I won't have anytime to write on weekdays. Of course, that's what the weekend is for, right? Anyway, I won't go into rant mode, no matter how much some of you love Ducky rants. If you want a rant, bring up track in your review and I'll go on for days. Oh, and my splints off now, but my finger still hurts. OOOO! And thisis chapter 20! Yay!**

_Disclaimer: I'm sorry, but I had to borrow money to buy peppermint tea and some apples at the store, so why do you think I own Gilmore Girls?_

**Chapter 20: Life PushedHer Down the Stairs**

"Hun. Hun." Lorelai heard someone say as she felt her body being shaken.

"What? Sookie?" she asked as she finally recognized the voice she was hearing.

"Yeah, hey, what happened?" Sookie asked. "Were you thinking about the baby again?" she clarified. She could obviously tell that Lorelai had been crying.

"No. I wasn't thinking about the…the baby." Lorelai stammered. It was so hard to think about her present situation right now. How could she with the way it had turned out?

"Then what happened?" Sookie asked gently while stroking her best friend's arm.

"It was Luke." Lorelai answered quietly as she sat up, trying to recall the events of the day.

"Luke? What did he do?" Sookie asked. She was being so sweet. And she had a family that she needed to get home to.

"He…he accused me of cheating on him, and then I kicked him out." she stammered, still shocked about the whole ordeal.

"You kicked him out? Like for the night, or the week, or--" she stopped when she saw the serious look on Lorelai's face. "oh." she said quietly.

"Yeah." Lorelai responded as she looked down at her hands that were the first thing she thought to look at in avoidance to Sookie's glance. "Sookie, why don't you go home?" Lorelai suggested. She didn't want to be the reason why Jackson got angry.

"But you need me here. That's what friends are for." she said excitedly.

"Well you have a family. You have a husband and two kids at home. They're probably starving too. Why don't you go home and I'll talk to you tomorrow?" Lorelai specified. She really needed time to think by herself.

"You sure, cause I can stay if you need." Sookie said, giving Lorelai's hand a pat. "I'm sure. You go home and spend sometime with Jackson." Lorelai said.

"Ok. So I'll see you at work tomorrow?" Sookie asked.

"I'm gonna take the day off tomorrow, but I might stop by to talk."

"Ok, well I'll see you tomorrow." Sookie said gently.

"Bye Sookie." Lorelai said as Sookie made her way to the door.

"Ok, bye Hunny." Sookie said as she opened the door and left the house.

_Why do I have to make life so complicated for myself? Why do I have to jump to conclusions? Always be in control? Hide my feelings? Keep secrets? Give up. I gave up? Well yeah! You gave up when you threw Luke out! You just couldn't handle it anymore and you just let it go. You gave up! I did not! You did too! No, I didn't. That's final, go bug someone else! _

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"Mom! What are you doing?" Rory asked in astonishment as she saw her mother outside on the porch. The thing that caught Rory by surprise was the fact that it was 5:30 in the morning, and Lorelai was fully dressed, and drinking a cup of coffee. A day had passed and Rory had come to check up on her mother.

"Well drinking coffee is one of the dozen answers I could use." Lorelai answered dryly.

"Mom, Sookie called me this morning. She said that she didn't get a chance last night to call, and that you were having some trouble with Luke again. What happened?" Rory asked with concern. Rory slowly lowered herself down onto the step, right next to Lorelai.

"Life. Life happened Rory. Which is ironic seeing as it was all triggered by the loss of life." she said as she tried to hold back tears.

"Mom, what happened?" Rory asked again, only this time, a little quieter.

"Luke accused me of cheating." Lorelai said while more tears escaped her eyes.

"Oh Mom." Rory comforted softly as she held her mother in her arms. Lorelai had now put down the coffee and had her head in her hands. Lorelai quickly looked up.

"He accused me of cheating, and then I kicked him out." she added.

"But I'm sure he'll be back today to talk." Rory said hopefully.

"No, I threw him out. For good. He's not coming back. And then I told him about the baby, and he tried to apologize. But I just wouldn't let him." Lorelai sobbed. "I'm always screwing things up!" she exclaimed. She let another couple tears flow down her cheek.

"Well just call him up and tell him to come over. Just to talk." Rory suggested.

"But I'm not sure if I want him back. I mean, I love him, but we are always getting into these types of fights, and we are always second guessing each other, and I don't think that we're meant to be anymore!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Don't say that mom. You know you are. Eight years of friendship, a total of one year of dating, which adds up to nine years of happiness. You know you are meant to be. Don't question this mom. Don't. Think of all those happy times. Think of all those wonderful memories. I know that you are tired of all of this stuff, but every couple has its rough times. Give it another try Mom." Rory pleaded.

"I can't Rory. I can't. I can't get hurt again. I just can't. And I know it's not fair to Jake. It's not fair to me. It's not fair to Luke. I just can't Rory. If only you knew the pain that this situation has put me in." Lorelai said, her eyes showing clearly the pain she felt.

"Mom, Luke is clearly hurt by this. He was throwing Kirk out of the diner when I drove by this morning. That's not normal. Luke only throws Kirk out when he is either drunk, hurting, or both. You know that. Mom, Luke deserves a chance." Rory tried to persuade.

"No he doesn't. It's not fair to me! He accused me of cheating! Again! He accused me of cheating again Rory. And is getting together just to break up later on, any more fair?" Lorelai asked.

"No it's not. But that's not going to happen." Rory tried to convince her mother.

"How can you tell? Can you promise me that Rory?" she asked.

"Mom." Rory said.

"Rory!" Lorelai exclaimed.

"Ok, fine. I'll leave it, but remember what I said. What about Jake? I mean are you and Luke going to share custody? Are you going to even let him see Jake?" Rory asked.

"I can't cut Jake off from his father. But I don't want to have to give Luke weekends, or every Friday, or every other day." Lorelai said as she wiped away her tears.

"So like you did with dad?" Rory asked.

"I guess. But he'll be bit closer, and the visits will be more frequent. I just don't know how I can handle seeing him. I have to let him see Jake, but him being near me will just hurt me even more than now. I don't want to hurt anymore Rory. I don't." Lorelai said to her daughter.

"I guess I could put a transportation system together when I'm in town. You know, bring him to Luke's, bring him home. How does that sound?" Rory proposed.

"It sounds good, but you're not always here. What about then?" Lorelai asked.

"We can think about it then." Rory said.

"Ok." Lorelai said. She picked up her coffee and took a few sips of it as both she and Rory stared off into space. Finally Lorelai broke the silence. "So where is Jake?" she asked.

"He and Martha had a play date today, remember?" Rory asked.

"That's right. So you're free today? No work, no Paris, no geeks with motorcycles?" Lorelai joked.

"No, not today." Rory answered, choosing to ignore the 'geeks with motorcycles' comment.

"So what do ya want to do?" Lorelai asked, trying to push the past few days behind her, and forget about them for at least an hour or two.

"I don't know. Maybe some shopping." Rory suggested.

_The last time we went shopping, it was with Luke. I remember, we went to the mall…and then…and then…we ran into my mother. _Lorelai thought.

_"Luke! Please! Please Luke! Please, please, please!" Lorelai begged. It had been a month since Luke had found out about the baby. Three weeks before everything fell apart. _

_"No." he answered. _

_"Please! Rory, help me here!" Lorelai demanded as she turned to Rory who was standing on the other side of her. _

_"I'm staying out of this." Rory replied. _

_"Fine." Lorelai pouted. She turned to Luke. _

_"Oh stop! You know I can't resist the pout." he said to her. Lorelai just smiled. _

_"I know. And I thought that in this case it might come in handy. So will you?" she asked again excitedly. _

_"Fine, but one more. That's final. One more hour and then we leave." he said, gesturing wildly to emphasize his point. _

_"Yay!" Lorelai celebrated as she jumped up and down. Rory laughed while Luke rolled his eyes. _

_"Let's go!" Rory said excitedly. Lorelai and Rory then dragged Luke to the nearest baby store. Both women were laughing as Luke tried to pretend to resist their pulling, but he enjoyed is secretly. When the finally came close Luke sighed. And then he saw her. He saw her. Lorelai saw Luke stop abruptly. _

_"What?" she asked and then turned around to face what he was looking at. "Mom?" she asked. _

_"Lorelai? Rory? Luke." she asked, and said Luke's name with disgust. Luke and Lorelai both picked up on this. _

_"What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked in disbelief. _

_"This is a mall isn't it?" Emily asked. _

_"Yes but--" Lorelai tried to answer. _

_"And the mall, isn't it a public place?" Emily asked again. _

_"Yes it is, but--" Lorelai tried to speak again. _

_"So that's why I'm here." Emily said as if it was normal for her to be in a mall. _

_"I meant what are you doing here at this store?" she asked. She then noticed the bags she was carrying. "And what did you buy in there?" Lorelai asked with a smile on her face. Her mother had been in that store buying baby things. _

_"What does it matter to you?" Emily asked hostilely. Lorelai ignored her mother's sudden rudeness. _

_"Because you just walked out of a baby store, I doubt you are friends with any pregnant woman, so who is that stuff for?" Lorelai asked with a knowing smile on her face. _

_"Fine it's for you." Emily said, giving up the fight. She then changed the subject. "So I take it you told Luke?" she said in a rude tone. She really could turn that switch off and on couldn't she?_

_"Yes, I did. And he didn't run, and I won't run, and you won't cause either of us to run." Lorelai said to her mother. She would not let her mother screw anything up this time. _

_"I didn't say anything Lorelai." he mother said offended. _

_"I know you didn't, but I was just telling you ahead of time." Lorelai retorted. Luke saw a chance to break this little invisible fight up. _

_"Hey, well we have to go, so we'll see you later Mrs. Gilmore. Bye." he said as he pushed Lorelai towards the store. _

Lorelai remembered that day and how it only had gotten better after that. And then she realized how she had even talked to her mother since then. How her mother would love the news that Luke and Lorelai were no longer together. Maybe she should go see her mother. _Wow! Where did that come from? I guess I just feel the need to talk to my mother. Oh! The baby! She doesn't know. Crap! She's going to be so disappointed. She was so excited for another grandchild, no matter how little she showed it._

"Hey, do you have dinner with the grandparents this Friday?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah, why?" Rory replied.

"What do you think of me going?" Lorelai asked.

"How many times did you fall down the stairs?" Rory asked.

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Hehe, so how many times did you fall down the stairs? It's not my fault! Life pushed me! Do you see where the title comes from? Life's a bitch isn't it? Anyway, so here is my lovely little chapter 20. Again, sorry it took so long. Reviews would actually be quite nice. Tell me, what's your favorite color? What's YOUR favorite Sesame Street character? I really like the Cookie Monster and Elmo, but which do you like? And hey, brownies or cookies? Which do you like the best?

Please review, I'm still sore from running almost five miles yesterday, so please make the pain go away with a review. Yes, for each review I get, the less painful it is to walk down those stairs so I don't trip and fall. I'll stop now.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	21. Daring to Hide and Self Blind

Ok, so I don't really feel like writing much at the top because, well, I haven't had a really good day so I think I'll just post this and get it over with. Sorry if it sucksbut that's all that came out of my head.

_Disclaimer: hey, if I owned Gilmore Girls, then I would be able to afford a car so I wouldn't have to wait an hour at the school after practice just for a ride home. Clear?_

**Chapter 21: Daring to Hide and Self-Blind**

"Hey, leave a message and we'll get back to you." Lorelai's voice could be heard from the answering machine and then it beeped.

"Hey Lorelai, It's Luke. Ah…I'm just calling to see how you are. I know you threw me out, but I've been wondering about Jake. We haven't talked about that, and you know I want to be there for him. So please just call me back. Bye." he said. _Wow! She's obviously having some problems_. The message on the machine showed her depression, but only Luke could see this.

Lorelai heard the message but was afraid to pick up the phone and call him back. She was afraid she would get sucked into the same whirlpool of feelings she had had when he came back over 4 months ago. But she knew she had to. She had to call him. She couldn't just ignore him. He did have the right to see his son, and she did want that. Jake deserved a father.

She reached for the phone and got as far as the first three numbers before hanging up and slamming the phone done quickly.

"Ah! Just pick up the phone. Just pick up the phone and call him. Come on Lorelai. You can do it. Come on. Just call him." she told herself as she slowly picked up the phone again. This time she got as far as the first five numbers.

"Ah! Just call him! It's not that hard! Just pick up the phone. Press that pretty little talk button, dial the seven pretty little numbers, and then let it ring. Come on! Just pick. Up. The. Phone. Pick it up! Come on!" she instructed herself. She then picked up the phone for the third time and dialed his number. All seven numbers. It was ringing. It was ringing.

_Oh god! Oh god! What am I going to say if he picks up! What will he say! _She started to freak out in her thoughts.

"Hello." Luke answered the phone. He was in the apartment sitting on the couch with a beer in front of him.

Silence.

"Is anyone there?" he asked when no one answered him. "Hello? I'm going to hang up." he said.

"Hey Luke." Lorelai answered quietly.

"Lorelai?" he asked. He hadn't expected her to answer his message. She was always the kind of person to just delete the message at the first sound of the unliked person's voice.

"Yeah, I got your message." she said. She was still having trouble talking. She felt like at any moment she could have a relapse of infatuation for Luke, and she couldn't handle that. She didn't want the hurt again. She had said it over and over again to herself, but she always needed to remind herself that Luke would only bring her hurt. He would only bring her pain. He would only terrorize her. But she always had to remind herself this so as not to fall into the trap of love again.

"Well…good." he answered. He couldn't think of anything else to say. He was lost in thoughts of what had gone wrong in their lives to create this situation. Him. It was him. Of course it was her too, but it was his untrusting nature. His insecurity about whether she really loved him or not. And all that did was make life worse. It wasn't fair. They had gone through so much. Eight years, and 6 months. And then they had been apart for a year. And ever since then they had been together. And truly happy. They had both been fully in love, and now what good did that do them? None whatsoever.

"So you wanted to talk about the Jake situation." Lorelai reminded Luke.

"Ah, yeah. I did. What are we going to do?" he asked.

"Well I guess you can see him whenever you want, and Rory volunteered her transportation services whenever she's available." Lorelai informed him of the plan.

"So I won't see you?" Luke asked. He wanted to see her. He yearned to see you, to smell her perfume, to hold her. But not one of those things would ever happen again probably. It had been four days and already Lorelai's absence in his life was driving him insane. Over the past four nights he had drunken him self to sleep, letting tears slip whenever they came. He not only wanted Lorelai and Jake, but he also wanted the baby that was now no longer going to be in his life. Luke drunk himself to sleep over Lorelai and Jake, but he shed the tears over the little baby that had had a future at one point. But now Luke felt as if he had lost his mother and father all over again. And Luke had never really seen the baby.

"Probably not. It's for the best Luke." she told him.

"How do figure that?" he asked sharply. Lorelai ignored his tone.

"I can't get hurt again Luke. That's all our relationship brings me. It may bring little glimmers of hope and happiness, but in the end, I end up getting hurt. Always. And seeing you will only amplify that hurt. I can't Luke. I can't see you." she poured from her heart all of the feelings that she held inside.

Luke felt his heart break. He caused her pain to worsen. He had caused that. But then again, she caused his pain. It was a give and take relationship. He gives pain, she gives it back. She gives pain, he gives it back. Vicious circles. That was what you could call Luke and Lorelai's relationship--a vicious circle.

"Ok." Luke gave in. he didn't want to anger her. They had both had enough of that lately. He would have loved for her to be the one to bring Jake over, but he didn't want to make it so she was furious at him.

"And your stuff." Lorelai said.

"My what?" Luke asked. _What the hell is she talking about?_

"Your stuff here at my house. You have at least half your stuff here. Can you come pick it up when I'm at work tomorrow?" she asked him. Again Luke's heart broke in half.

"Ok." Luke answered disappointedly. He had been hoping that she would forget and that he might at least have a reason to run into her, but she had demolished that hope when she had instructed him to stop by while she was at work.

"Ok." Lorelai sighed.

"But who's going to watch him during the day?" Luke asked.

"I…I don't know." Lorelai answered. Her and Rory hadn't thought of the daily routine change that would take place, but she had to think about it. "I guess I will take him to work with me everyday." she said. Luke was wondering what other horrible decision Lorelai could throw at him. This was another thing. He sunk into the couch even further.

"So I won't get to see him except for on weekends?" Luke asked. Lorelai heard this and freaked. Here was what she was trying to avoid. She didn't want to have to split the week up.

"No, you can see him whenever you want. Seeing as it's summer, Rory can bring him to the diner whenever you want. At a reasonable time of course. Ok?" Lorelai corrected.

"Sure. So that's done. So I'll just come by tomorrow around noon to get my stuff. Ok?" Luke said.

"Yeah. That sounds good. I'm sorry Luke." Lorelai apologized.

"Yeah. Bye." Luke said and he hung up before she could answer.

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"Crap! Rory! Rory!" Lorelai repeated as she almost fell down the stairs.

"What? What happened?" Rory asked when she noticed her mother's frizzy, tangled hair.

"You're little brother happened." Lorelai answered.

"What?" Rory asked.

"He took the brush to my hair. Rule number one: don't let your little son get a hold of the brush." Lorelai instructed Rory.

"Ok. I'll make a mental note of that." Rory said.

"So I need you to drop him off at Luke's." Lorelai said to Rory. Rory saw her mother's face change from happy to sad the moment she mentioned Luke.

"Ok. Is that it?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, I just need to finish getting ready and then we can head to dinner." Lorelai said as she pulled on one of her shoes. She was holding on to the railing just to make sure she didn't fall.

"Ok, I'll go get him, drop him off, and then be back in 15 minutes." Rory said as she ran past her mother and up to Jake's room.

Jake's room. That's what it had been made. It wasn't Jake and the soon-to-be-baby's room anymore. It was just Jake's. And it still had the dresser with the stenciling on it. It brought back happy memories for Lorelai--memories she couldn't handle. And in the garage there was the boat that Luke had not taken back yet, and the almost done crib. It stood there, and it made Lorelai terrified of even going near it. She couldn't be reminded of the baby. She couldn't. It hurt too much. It hurt more than looking at Luke. It hurt more than looking at Jake and being reminded of Luke. It just hurt more than anything else she had ever felt.

"I'll be back in a bit." Rory said as she came running down the stairs holding a nine month old Jake.

"Ok." Lorelai answered quietly, still lost in her thoughts. It was the end of July. What was she going to do when Rory went back to school in a month or so?

"I'm back!" Rory shouted throughout the house as she burst through the door.

"Hey, how was…everything?" Lorelai asked hesitantly. Her hair now seemed to be in check.

"Luke's fine. Well, fine considering what has happened in the past few days." Rory added.

"Ok. That's good…I guess." Lorelai answered.

"Let's go." Rory said.

"Do I have to?" Lorelai complained.

"Mom! You are the one who wanted to go! No one forced you to make that decision, and now you have to go because grandma will track you down and kill you for backing out an hour before dinner." Rory told her mother.

"Fine. But there better be edible food this time." Lorelai said as she exited the house.

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Again, I'm not going to say much, so please just review and make my day better. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	22. Can't Take It, Can Hide It

See guys, I'm a super hero. I've now updated twice this weekend. Doesn't that make you all happy? Well I'm feeling better now, knowing that I don't have to do any homework right now, because hey, it's Saturday! Yay! Yippy! I actually hate Saturdays, but for now, they're my best friend! Well I'll keep this short and to all of you who haven't reviewed the last chapter and normally do review, I would really appreciate it if you reviewed that chapter first before reading this one. Just a nice little request from me, the provider of the story. I could easily take it away too. Just remember that.

_Disclaimer: Hmmm, if any of my dreams were to come true, it would surely be the dream where I don't fail French, I actually get at least a 90 in all my classes, and my friend Josh dumps his clingy girlfriend and realizes I'm just as fun to be around at that freak. Since this has not been fulfilled, I don't think the Gilmore Girls dream has been either._

**Chapter 22:Can't Take It, Can Hide It**

"Hello Lorelai, Rory." Emily greeted.

"Mother?" Lorelai responded. "Why are you answering the door?" Lorelai asked.

"Because the maid is too stupid to hear it." Emily answered.

"Maybe because she has had to learn how to block out much louder sounds." Lorelai suggested with a smile on her face.

"Well there is no excuse. Come in and have a drink." Emily finally said.

They both followed Emily into the living room where Richard was standing at the drink cart.

"Rory! Lorelai!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Grandpa." Rory said as she gave him a hug.

"Soda?" he asked her.

"Yeah." Rory answered as she took the seat next to her mother.

"Lorelai?" Richard asked.

"Ah…vodka martini please." she answered.

"Lorelai!" Emily screamed.

"What?" Lorelai questioned.

"You're pregnant! You can't have alcohol!" she screeched. "I mean, you would think you would be more careful!" _Oh god, I just walked into that one didn't I? And it's starting off right as we get inside. I wish I could have that drink to block out her screams. Why did I have to do that? Why! Am I really that stupid? Now I have to tell her about the…and I just can't handle it right now!_ Lorelai argued, ranted, rambled, whatever you want to call it, in her head.

"Mom--" Lorelai tried to say something but was interrupted by her mother.

"You realize that can lead to brain damage and mental retardation?"

"Mom, please stop." Lorelai pleaded quietly.

"Why? You do know that you could kill the baby don't you!" she lectured.

At the last line Lorelai's eyes welled up with tears. She quickly got up with her purse and walked to the bathroom as she tried to hide the tears that were streaming down her face. "Lorelai! Lorelai! Where are you going?" Emily screeched after her. Emily looked questioning at Rory who had a look of deep grief on her face.

"She…she…."Rory tried to get out.

"She what Rory?" Richard asked.

"Mom lost the baby a few days ago. It broke her and Luke up, and every time it's mentioned, she starts to feel the pain again." Rory answered quietly. She then got up and followed her mother into the bathroom. Emily flashed a look of shock at Richard, whose face only mirrored Emily's.

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"Mom?" Rory asked quietly as she knocked on the bathroom door. She could only hear sobbing on the other side. Rory slowly opened the door to find her mother sitting in the corner of the room with her head in her hands.

Rory rushed to her mother's side, hugging her tight and rocking her back and forth. Rory knew that her mother was not in the mood to talk right now; she just needed comfort. "Shhhh, it's ok mom." Rory comforted quietly.

"I can't do it Rory." her mother answered.

"It's ok." Rory responded.

"No it's not! I can't keep pretending that life's ok! My life has never been as screwed up before! I lose both my baby and Luke. How is that fair? How is that right? What did I do to deserve that? And I can't go back because it's never going to be the same. Even if I went back to Luke, I would always end up keeping him at arm's length. I just don't know Rory! I don't know what to do! And even if I did, I don't know if I could! I am just so tired of my messed up life! I want to rewind time, and get Luke back! I want my baby back! I want my family back! I…I…" Lorelai sobbed. She didn't know what she wanted. She wanted too much. She had just realized that she wanted too much. But she couldn't just let that want go. She couldn't. But she had to. It was eating her up inside and she couldn't take it.

Rory didn't know how to respond without saying the wrong thing. There were so many things she could say, but all of the things she came up with sounded wrong. They sounded insensitive because Rory couldn't do the verbal comforting thing. She had always been the one to be able to give a hug, or advice, but never comforting words. Never.

"Rory, what am I going to do? I just can't think. I can't live like this. I need someone there. I need Luke. I can't forget him. Last time I was able to at least pretend that I didn't love him anymore, but now…I can't. Even if the baby still was alive, I wouldn't have the strength to pretend. I've done enough of that, and now I just want to be happy. I just want to be happy Rory." she sobbed some more.

"I know. I know mom." Rory responded quietly as she continued to rock her sobbing mother back and forth.

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"She lost the baby." Emily whispered to herself.

"She tried to tell you." Richard said without emotion. The only emotion he felt at the moment was anger towards his wife, and he had to keep that inside.

"I know, but what was I supposed to do? I thought she was pregnant and drinking alcohol. Plus interrupting is extremely rude." Emily said a-matter-of-factly.

"But you never listen to her." Richard said, getting annoyed with his wife now.

"I do too!" Emily said resentfully.

"No you don't." he said, almost at his breaking point now.

"Of course I do! Why would you think I don't?" she asked as if she knew everything.

"No you don't! You never listen to her! You insult first, and then ask questions later on! Maybe she has a reason for the things she keeps from us! Because she's afraid you will take it and turn it against her!" Richard yelled. He had lost his temper. He himself was hurt. How could his wife be so cold hearted? He walked off to his study.

"Richard! Richard! Don't you yell at me like that and then run off to your study!" she yelled at him as he walked away. Emily got up and followed him. "Richard!" she called one last time.

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Rory had holding her mother for the past 10 minutes. She heard the sobbing stop, and all that was left was a little bit of sniffling.

"You ok mom?" Rory asked as she pulled away from her mother a little bit.

"No, but I'm getting there. I'm sorry you've been dragged into all of this over the past week. I really am sorry." Lorelai apologized.

"It's ok. Us Gilmore girls have to stick together." Rory joked.

"Yeah, we do. Thanks Hun."

"Anytime." Rory responded.

"Shall we go out and witness the wrath of Hitler?" Lorelai joked as she lifted herself off the floor.

"Sure." Rory answered as she too got up off the floor. Lorelai wrapped her arm around Rory's shoulder and they both walked out of the bathroom, heading towards the living room.

When they reached the living room, they discovered it was empty. But they could hear yelling coming from the study. Rory gave her mother a puzzled look. Lorelai shrugged and they both moved to the study door. It was open about an inch or two.

"You keep terrorizing our daughter with your rude comments and insults!" they could hear Richard yelling. Rory had a look of shock on her face. She couldn't remember a time where her grandfather had yelled at all. But here he was doing it freely.

"I am doing what I see is best for her!" Emily screeched back.

"That is not what you are doing! You are putting her down for not living her life the way that you see fit!" Richard responded.

"Sorry to interrupt your shouting match here, but me and Rory are going to head home." Lorelai interrupted. Both her parents looked at her quickly. They hadn't meant for anyone to hear them yelling.

"Oh, ah…" Richard tried to find something to say.

"Bye dad." Lorelai said. She walked out to the car. Rory quickly gave her goodbyes and then followed her mother out to the car. They had taken the jeep because Rory was spending the night in Stars Hallow and taking one car saved gas.

"Ready babe?" Lorelai asked.

"Yeah." Rory answered quietly. She was still in shock from the little fight she had just witnessed.

The rest of the ride home was silent.

"Don't forget we have to stop at the diner." Rory reminded her mother. They had planned to pick up Jake on their way home from dinner.

"Ok." Lorelai answered quietly. She was terrified that Luke might come out and approach her. She was terrified, but she somehow managed to hide it.

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"So I'll run in and get him. Be back in a sec." Rory said as she jumped out of the jeep and made her way into the diner.

She opened the unlocked door and walked up the stairs to the apartment. She knocked on the door which was quickly opened by Luke.

"Rory. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here to pick up Jake." Rory informed him, looking at him as if he was crazy.

"No, I meant why are you here so early? Normally the dinner goes on for at least another hour or so." he clarified.

"Oh, well grandma…kind of brought up the fact that mom was drinking alcohol which lead to an emotional breakdown, which lead to a fight between my grandparents. It's been a really long night." Rory said, exhaustedly. Luke just smiled.

"Come in then. I'll just go get his stuff." Luke told her. How had things come to this? When did Luke become the kind of dad that got three hours out of the week to see his son? When did all of this happen? Luke felt awkward in this kind of situation. He hated it. But he couldn't change it. He packed all of Jake's toys that had been in the diaper bag back in the bag, and then he grabbed the little boy's shoes.

Jake was happily crawling around inside the gate that had been purchased by Luke when Jake had first started to crawl. Luke was hoping the walking wouldn't start for a while, but he wouldn't bet on it. Jake was already pulling himself up by the edge of the gat and walking around in circles, while holding on of course.

"I'm sorry Luke." Rory apologized. Luke looked up surprised.

"For what?" he asked.

"For all of this. Mom, you, Jake. Just the whole situation. She doesn't mean to hurt you, just keep herself from getting hurt." Rory told him with sincerity in her tone.

"I know, but I wish she would just see that I'm not here to hurt her. I've always been there to help her when she gets hurt." Luke told Rory as he fidgeted with the tiny shoes in his hand.

"I know. But she has been hurt too many times. She just doesn't have the energy to deal with more hurt right now. You may not hurt her at all, but she sees it as a possibility. She just lost the baby. She knows that that baby made your relationship stronger, and now that it's gone, she is emotionally weak, and just can't see anyway of dealing with more hurt. I really am sorry Luke." Rory said. Luke was silent. He knew what Rory had just told him was true, but he didn't want it to be. He wanted it to be simpler, easier to overcome. But it wasn't.

"So here's his stuff. Tell your mom that Jake seems to be running a low fever, so just keep an eye on that." Luke said as he handed over the diaper bag and a few toys.

"Ok." Rory answered quietly. She still felt bad that Luke should get the shorter end of the stick, but she didn't want to get mixed up in it. She didn't want to be on Luke's or her mother's bad side. So she just let it be.

Rory took the things and then picked up Jake.

"Bye Luke." she said as she opened the door.

"Bye Rory." Luke said as he shut the door behind her.

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"Luke said that Jake has a small fever." Rory said as she finished buckling the smiling baby into his seat.

"He did?" Lorelai asked. _How would Luke know? Oh wait, the last time Jake had a fever Luke was the first to notice. _

"Yeah. So home now?" Rory asked. Lorelai was pulled out of her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah." Lorelai answered as she put her foot on the gas.

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When Luke knew that Rory was out of hearing range, he leaned against the door and fell to the ground. His head lay in his hands as he let out the tears that had been caused by the mention by Rory of the now nonexistent baby.

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Dum dum di dum! So there you go! Nice of me isn't it? Well I was feeling a bit generous and I thought the last chapter sucked, so redeeming myselfseemed like the only other option. So, please review and tell me if this chapter was worthy of your eyes and thoughts. Come on, two in two days, the last time that happened was...about two or three months ago I think. So please review, add to the morning happiness of Ducky. I haven't gone upstairs to face my parents yet and I'm guessing all they'll say is 'you're failing French, no more track, no more friends, oh, and no more internet!' so hope for the best.

REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!


	23. Truth Be Known

Ok, so I am sorry to all of you who read Drunkenly Sober and were like "yay! New chapter tonight!" because as we all know, it didn't happen then, so here I am making up for that. I just spent the evening at my grandmother's house so I couldn't update if that's any kind of an excuse to you. And how sad is it that yesterday, during the meet, our team was at least three times bigger than the other two schools put together? I think it's pretty sad. And I would like to thank all of you people who read and reviewed Drunkenly Sober. I forgot to thank everyone on the second chapter so I'm using this chapter to do so. I won't list all of the names because that takes too much time and I think you want this chapter now.

So as for this story, I would like to thank everyone who had stuck by me and I am promising that this story should be ending within another chapter or two unless I decide to add on more for the good of your sanity and happiness. Ok? So thanks. And I promise it has a happy ending, don't judge the story by this chapter. Well the end of this chapter at least.

_Disclaimer: Uh...No spiffy little disclaimer is coming to mind here...hmm...how about "If I owned Gilmore Girls, I would probably have my damn Dachshund Puppy now, or Josh's dog, whichever is easier to get my hands on. And seeing as I don't have either, I don't think I own the wonderful show that the story owes its life to." Good, spiffy, horrible, spazzy? What? Like the disclaimer?_

**Chapter 23: Truth Be Known**

Lorelai woke up to find her neck aching. She opened her eyes to discover that she had been sleeping in the rocking chair in jakes room. Why? Oh, because he had been screaming all night long. Probably because of the fever.

Lorelai remembered the last time she saw Luke in this room. It had been when he was singing to Jake. The night that Lorelai had come home two hours late. The night before…it happened. That's what Lorelai had started to refer to that event as--it. Saying or thinking about what really happened hurt her so much, so she just kept it pushed in the back of her mind.

Lorelai got out of the chair and walked over to the side of the crib. She felt Jake's head; he was burning up. Lorelai quickly reached for the thermometer and took his temperature. 104°.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed. "Rory!" yelled as she ran down the stairs. "Rory!" she repeated as she saw a sleepy figure enter the kitchen.

"What!" Rory said annoyed.

"I need to run to Doose's. Can you watch Jake for me?" Lorelai asked quickly.

"Sure." Rory answered unenthusiastically.

"Thanks!" Lorelai said as she pulled on the pair of sneakers she swore she would never wear, and then rushed out the door.

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"Caesar! I'm running next door to get some bread! We're out!" Luke shouted. He then walked briskly out the door towards the store.

"Sure." Caesar's muffled voice could be heard calling from the kitchen.

Luke walked in, and then remembered he had to pick up some toothpaste and some aspirin for his future hangovers. They were bound to happen within the next few weeks or so with what he was going through. He grabbed two loaves of bread and then he grabbed some toothpaste. The minty kind of course, out of habit. He then made his last stop in the third isle. Of course the shelves were filled with pills galore. Luke now knew why Taylor was the way he was. As he slowly walked sideways, searching through the shelves for what he was looking for, he felt a body come crashing into him.

"Oh sorry I didn't--" he heard her say. Lorelai. It was Lorelai who had run into him.

"It's ok." Luke answered quietly as he held out his hand to help her up off the floor.

"I'm sorry; I'm just in a hurry. I need some Tylenol for Jake." she said to him. Luke's face immediately turned from sad to concerned.

"What happened to Jake?" Luke asked.

"ah…the fever you mentioned last night got worse, and I'm here to get Tylenol for it, and then I'll give it to him, and I'm going crazy now, and I'm babbling." she tried to laugh but couldn't. After all of the years she had dealt with Rory and her sicknesses, and Jake's colds and fevers, she now had forgotten what she should do. She was so worn down and tired, and emotionally drained.

"Ok." Luke said. He turned around to face the Tylenol section and found the infants kind. He quickly grabbed it off the shelf and handed it to her. "here." he said. Lorelai looked at him with gratitude.

"Thanks…Luke. I'm just so…so tired. And I am having trouble dealing with this right now. Thanks though. Bye." she said as she walked quickly to the register and away from Luke. Luke just stood there in shock. He had never seen her so beaten down before except for that one time where she had planned to ask him for $30,000 and then had ended up crying in his arm for at least half an hour. He placed what he had in his hands on the nearest empty space on the shelf and headed after Lorelai who was heading out the door.

"Luke! You have to put those items back where they belong!" Taylor commanded.

"Shut it, Taylor!" he yelled as he ignored him. Luke rushed out the door and onto the street.

"Lorelai!" he yelled she quickly turned around. When she saw who it was she froze. Hadn't she made it clear that she couldn't deal with him? Hadn't she said that she couldn't keep doing this? Hadn't she told him that she was hurt by him, and that's all he was going to do to her now? Obviously not.

He reached her and he reached for her hand. She backed away from him.

"Luke, please don't." she pleaded.

"Lorelai, I just want to help with Jake." he said. Lorelai felt her heart drop. _Wait, am I disappointed? Why am I disappointed? _

"Luke, I can handle it." she said.

"Lorelai--"

"I can handle it Luke! I can handle it! Just go back to the diner." she shouted as a tear steamed down her face.

"No you can't." Luke said quietly.

"What?" she asked. Did Luke just tell her that she couldn't handle it? What universe were they in now?

"You can't handle. You can't Lorelai. You are dead tired! You are keeping everything inside! You won't talk to me! You talk to Rory, but you know that's not the same! You have pushed me away! You are trying to put on a brave face. I know this, and it has to stop. It has to stop Lorelai." he said. His last line was so sincere and caring that Lorelai shed a tear over it. Luke reached for her hand, but she pulled away again.

"No, it can't. If I let it all out, then there is no way I can live without you! And I can't live with you! I always get hurt! Always! And I can't take it anymore Luke! I can't. It just hurts. With the baby, and you and just everything else! I can't let it go! I have to hold onto the little bit of control I have or I'll get lost Luke! I'll get lost and I don't know where to go." she told him.

"You always have me." Luke answered. "You can always come to me."

"No I can't! Have you even been listening? I can't go to you! We're over! We are done! We can't be together. It tears me up inside knowing you won't ever trust me. Knowing that at anytime you might accuse me of sleeping with someone else. Knowing that at any moment you might see a friend of mine as a sex buddy of mine! Knowing that you might want to be in total control! And this has to be a give and take relationship! And it wasn't! It wasn't Luke! We were happy at first, but then the insecurities started to set in. I. can't. Have. That. I need more than just someone to cry to and to sleep with! I need someone who will trust me and someone I know will be there in the future when I'm half dead and look like hell! I need stability Luke! I need trust! I don't need you!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! That was one time! One. Time! I was tired! And I have my reasons for those feelings that I turned into insecurities! I have my reasons too!" he yelled back. They hadn't noticed that they were the spectacle of over half the town. But that they were.

"And what are your reasons Luke? Huh? What are they?" Lorelai spat at him.

"I was going to propose! I was waiting for an hour! I sat there. For. An hour! Waiting for you! And then you come home two hours late! What am I supposed to think! I was tired! I was hurt too! I felt like you had somehow rejected me! Like it wasn't meant to be! I mean if you can turn up TWO hours late just because you didn't notice the time change, then that must mean something!" he yelled. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He had planned to not tell her about what he had been planning that night, but he let it slip. Luke had never been one to believe in 'signs' like snow, or little misfortunes. He had never been one to believe in that crap, but being around Lorelai had shown him that sometimes that is the only explanation for things.

"You were going to…propose?" she asked with a confused look on her face._ He was going to propose? Oh my god! No wonder!_

"Yeah. I was." he said, calming down and lowering his voice. It was then that he noticed the town's people around them. "Can we go to a more private place to discuss this?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." she answered. "But I have to get back to Jake." she realized.

"I'll go with you." Luke told her.

Lorelai didn't know what to do. Should she just tell Luke to come with her? Should she just tell him to leave? Should she forget the fact that he had been planning to propose? No, but she needed time to think about it. She would figure out the next step from there.

"Luke, I just need some time. I need to go deal with Jake and can you just please give me some time to think about all this?" Lorelai asked.

What should he say? He wanted to tell her that 'no!' she can't have more time! He loved her! Hadn't she seen that enough? Hadn't he showed her enough? Hadn't he done everything his heart had told him to do? But he couldn't just tell her no. if he did, he would be pushing her away, and he didn't want that. He needed her to discover that he was there, if she only would see that life wasn't against them; just challenging their strength. He needed her to discover that, but she needed to do that on her own.

"Ok, I guess I'll…I guess I'll just let you go. Call me when you figure it out though. Ok?"

"Ok. Bye Luke." she said as she turned around and walked home as quickly as possible.

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It had been two days and Jake's fever had disappeared, but Lorelai's fatigue had just grown.

It had been two days since she had last spoken to Luke; two long days that were dragging on to make life harder. Those two days were the hardest she had ever faced. Luke, or no Luke? She had to decide before Luke just up and left again. But he wouldn't do that would he? She questioned. _No, of course not. _She reassured herself.

It had been two days since she had found out that Luke was going to propose the night she had come home late.

It had been two days since she had seen real passion in his eyes; the passion to win her back and to make her see the truth.

It had been two days since she last slept. Thinking was hard work, especially when you have a baby with a fever on your hands. Luke had asked Rory if her mom needed any help, but Rory had told Luke that she needed more time. Lorelai needed more time.

It had been two days since Lorelai had started thinking about letting Luke back into her life. Two days since Lorelai had remembered how much she loved Luke, no matter how much she tried to hide it. Two days. That's all it took to get Lorelai to pass out from exhaustion.

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So tell me what you think. I absolutely need your feedback or I think I might go crazy. to all of you who have reviewed and I haven't gotten back to you, I'm sorry, I've been busy but now that vacation is here, I will have more time to reply and Maybe even post the last couple chapters of this story.

So give me warm and fuzzies, and review. And also, hope my knee is feeling up to running next week or I'm screwed. Thanks.

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	24. Answers to Unspoken Questions

So...wow,I need to start updating more! I mean, come on! I'm on vacation! I should have more time to do this crap! But I don't.And we have a meet on thursday so I've been trying to build up my speed for the past two days. I think I've been doing good seeing as I've only been running for the past two days after three or four weeks of nothing. So I will stop my random babble, and let you read this chapter. I think there's only one more chapter after this. I had it written a month ago or so, but I might add some more on to tie up some loose/weak ends that are present in the last chapter. So, enjoy.

_Disclaimer: Guys, you want to know what? I'm way to tired to think of some little clever disclaimer, so all I'm going to ask of you is that you don't sue me, because I know I don't own Gilmore Girls._

**Chapter 24: Answers to Unspoken Questions**

Lorelai woke up to find herself in an empty, unfamiliar room. She opened her eyes to find the sun blinding them, so she quickly shut them again. She reached her hand up to shield her eyes, but felt something cold on her hand. She looked to see an IV stuck in the top of her hand. She then sat up and took in the rest of her surroundings.

There she was, in a hospital bed, covered in a white sheet and a white blanket. There was a machine near her bed that were monitoring her heart rate, and a sac of fluid hung on a metal pole, with a tube that connected to the IV. She then noticed that she wasn't alone, Rory was in the corner of the room where she was napping in a chair. She had obviously been scared that something would happen to her mother if she got too close.

_What happened? The last thing I know everything was spinning and then it all went black. _Lorelai thought.

Just then a nurse walked in. "oh good, you're awake." she said as she walked over with a clipboard.

"What happened?" Lorelai asked groggily.

"You collapsed out of exhaustion. This young lady," the nurse pointed to Rory, "brought you in." the nurse finished as she wrote something down.

"When?"

"That was yesterday morning. There was an older woman and an older man here to see you earlier. Richard and Emily Gilmore I think they said there names were." the nurse added. _Yesterday morning? I passed out? Wow, what a week. _Lorelai thought to herself.

"Was that it?" Lorelai asked.

"No, another man came by around midnight last night. He seemed extremely worried and he almost killed the nurse at the front desk because she wouldn't let him see you. He had a baby in a car seat with him. He said his name was Luke Danes I believe." the nurse answered. Lorelai immediately froze. Luke had come to see her? With Jake? _Oh god! Jake! I hope Luke has him. _"And then another woman, Susie in think, left the message that Jake is with Luke." she added. The nurse sounded really perky and energetic.

"Sookie?" Lorelai asked.

"Sookie, that was it." the nurse corrected. "Ok, well I'm done here." the nurse said as she was checked the bag of fluid and wrote something down. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked.

"I need to call someone." Lorelai answered quietly.

"Ok, well here's the phone, just dial 9 and then the number." the nurse said before she left the room.

Lorelai glanced quickly at the sleeping Rory and then grabbed for the phone.

"Wow, she must really be tired." Lorelai muttered to herself as she dialed 9 and then the very familiar number that she would normally choose not to call.

"Hello?" someone answered.

"Hi, is Emily Gilmore there?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, hold on a moment." most likely the maid answered politely.

"Hello?" Emily's voice rang out from the phone.

"Hey mom."

"Lorelai? Is that you? Are you alright?" Emily asked frantically. None of the doctors had given her any answers last night.

"I'm fine, just a little tired and hungry. So you stopped by last night?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes we did. So you're alright?" Emily asked again.

"yes mom, I'm fine. But I think Rory's a little tired."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"Well she's out cold over in the corner right now." Lorelai answered.

"Yes, well she was barely awake when we visited you last night. she did tell us that Jake wasn't there. She said she had dropped him off at someone's house but we couldn't remember it. Do you know who is Jake staying with?"

"With Luke." Lorelai answered exhaustedly.

"But I heard from Rory that you two were split up." Emily said.

"We are, but I can't keep Jake from his father. I didn't with Rory either." Lorelai said.

"Well if you want we can stop by the…diner, and pick him up for you." Emily offered. She still didn't like Luke. She knew he wasn't good enough for Lorelai, and now he was still going to be apart of her life.

"No, it's fine. Luke needs some time with Jake anyway. What you can do is send dad over here. I need to know if this is covered by the health insurance." Lorelai said.

"Oh…ok. I will." Emily said. She felt like she had been shot down. She wasn't needed. But Lorelai had called her right?

"Well I gotta go, Rory's waking up now. Bye mom."

"Bye Lorelai." and then they both hung up. Rory stirred and turned to face her mom. She opened her eyes.

"You're awake!" Rory exclaimed as she shot up out of the chair and ran over to her mother. Lorelai just smiled.

"I should say the same for you." she commented.

"How long have you been up?" she asked.

"About 15 minutes. You should go Rory." she suggested.

"What? Why?" Rory asked confusedly.

"You probably have things to do; you can't keep helping me out. Go and sleep, or eat, or shower, or D, all of the above." Lorelai joked.

"But mom--"

"No buts. I'm fine Rory. Thanks for bringing me in here, but you should go." Lorelai said.

"Ok. But I'll be back in a few hours. The doctors said you can go home this afternoon, so I'll be picking you up then." Rory said.

"That sounds good babe. Thanks. Now go!" she demanded.

"Ok, bye mom. Love you."

"Love you too. Watch out for the crazy motorcycle geeks." she joked. Rory smiled and then walked out of the room.

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An hour had passed and the news that Lorelai was awake had obviously spread because she now had a room full of townies. All except for the one she wanted to see of course.

"Lorelai, how did it feel to collapse onto the floor? Did you life flash before your eyes?" Kirk asked as he scribbled down some notes. Supposedly he was now part of the Stars Hallow newspaper and was in charge of covering this surprising event.

"No Kirk, it didn't." she answered. She had been dealing with him for the past 45 minutes and was about ready to throw something at him. Normally, she would just go along with it and make up some random story, but right now she just felt like being left alone to her thoughts.

"Hey sugar! How's it goin'? Did someone attack you or something?" Babette asked. Of course, there was always some rumor going around that Lorelai could only have been injured if attacked. There were the other rumors about the baby being the product of her cheating on Luke with one of Babette's garden gnomes, but that was just speculation.

"No, I didn't get attacked." she answered, again annoyed.

Just then her father walked in with her mother.

"Hey dad." she said generically.

"Lorelai." he greeted. "I hope you're feeling better." he said happily.

"I am. Can you just hold on a second?" she then turned to everyone from the town that had invaded her room. "Can I please have five minutes alone?" she asked them. They all nodded and slowly diffused out into the hallway, leaving only the Gilmore's. "Go on." Lorelai said to her father.

"Well, I checked over your health insurance policy before coming here, and it seems that this type of ordeal is covered." he reassured her.

"Thanks god. I don't know how I would pay if it wasn't." she said.

"So Lorelai, where's Rory?" Emily asked.

"I made her go home and shower and get some food before she comes back in an hour or two." Lorelai answered.

"Well that's sounds good. Are you sure you don't--" she was then interrupted by someone bursting through the door.

"Lorelai." Luke said relieved when he saw that she was indeed ok. He had been worried all night long and had not been able to sleep peacefully.

_"Excuse me! Excuse me!" Luke said in a very annoyed pushy tone. He was tired and wanted to know what the hell was wrong with Lorelai! She was the only thing he had and he had just heard that she had collapsed onto the floor. Nothing other than that had been told to him. _

_The nurse looked up and glared at Luke through the glass. She was very busy at the moment and was not in the mood to deal with annoying freaks who tapped on the glass. _

_"May I help you?" she said in the not so sweet voice that nurses use when they want to say 'get the hell away from me or I'll kick your ass out the door'._

_"Ah…yes…" Luke stammered at the glare he got, but he was determined to see how Lorelai was. He didn't care that it was midnight and he had to be in Stars Hollow in five hours to meet the bread guy who would not be coming for another five weeks because he was going on vacation so if Luke missed him, the diner was screwed. "can you please tell me where Lorelai Gilmore is?" he asked, making sure to be more polite this time. _

_"Are you family?" the nurse asked while searching through the papers. _

_"Well…uh…not exactly." He answered hesitantly. What was he going to do? Lie to the nurse? _

_The nurse stopped immediately and looked up. "Well then I'm sorry sir, but I can't help you unless you are family." She said stubbornly. _

_"Please, I need to know how she is. I won't be able to sleep tonight until I know she's all right. Please, can't you at least tell me she's ok?" he begged. His eyes full of fatigue and helplessness. _

_"I'm sorry sir, but we have a strict policy here about patient privacy. I can't tell you unless you are family." She said, her voice had softened, but was still the professional tone that was present in all of the medical people Luke remembered from the past. _

_"Please, I just need to know, she's the mother of my son." Luke held up the car seat with the sleeping Jake in it. "I just need to know she's alright before I leave." he begged some more. _

_"Again sir, no matter who she is to you, if you are not family, I can't tell you." She said. She was back to the annoyed person that Luke had encountered at the beginning of this conversation. _

_Just then, another, more cheerful looking, nurse walked behind the glass. "Lorelai Gilmore's file please." She requested. Luke looked at her with new hope. When she came out Luke picked up the car seat he had just set down, and ran after the nurse. _

_"Excuse me! Excuse me!" he shouted at her down the hallway. She turned around to face him._

_"Yes?" _

_"Can you please tell me what's going on with Lorelai Gilmore?" he asked. He was pleading and begging her with both his words and his eyes. _

_"And you are?" she asked, looking at the file. _

_"Uh…Luke Danes. I'm not family and I know you have a strict…uh…policy here, but can you please just tell me if she's alright?" he asked. _

_"I'm sorry sir, but we really can't tell you--"Luke then interrupted her. _

_"I know!" he said desperately. "I know," he said softer, "I know, I went through the same thing with the nurse over there," he pointed to the nurse that previously would not allow him any information about Lorelai. " but this," Luke said, lifting the car seat up gently so as not to wake up Jake, "is our son, and me and Lorelai are not together, and I know that was probably not the right thing to say because now you most definitely will not tell me what the hell is going on with Lorelai, but," Luke rambled. He stopped for a breath before finishing his speech. "But, I just need to know how she is." He said softly, lowering his voice and showing more emotion than he knew he had. _

_"Mr. Danes, I'm sure you deserve to know, and I would love to tell you what is going on with Ms. Gilmore, but I can't. I will however tell her when she wakes up that you stopped by at midnight and tried to beat up the entire nurses staff to find out how she is." The nurse laughed. She loved how much this man was trying to find out about her patient, but her job was not worth loosing. "And I will also make sure to ask the young lady in there to call you if something happens because I am sure she has your phone number. Am I right?" she asked. _

_"Yeah, sure. I guess…I'll just go then." Luke gave in. he still wasn't sure if Lorelai was all right or not. He would just have to find out later. Maybe he would stop by in the morning and actually beat up the nurses if he had to. _

"Luke? What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked him. "Can you excuse us?" she asked her parents, who both nodded and left the room. Luke waited until he knew that her parents were out of ear shot before he answered her question.

"I just needed to see that you were ok." he said, now knowing that he had been extremely foolish in believing that she wasn't. Of course she was! The nurse hadn't sounded sympathetic in a way that would indicate that Lorelai wasn't all right.

Lorelai was shocked. Did he still love her? _Of course he does! _She just smiled at how cute it was for him to do that.

"thanks." she whispered quietly, but he heard her.

"What happened yesterday? No one was telling me. I came in. did the nurse tell you?" he asked.

"Yeah, she told me someone carrying a car seat with the name of Luke Danes had stopped by at midnight. Didn't you have early deliveries?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did, but when I heard that you were in the hospital…I kind of just…"

"Freaked out?" Lorelai filled in.

"Yeah, I guess." He answered timidly. "So what…happened, I mean why are you here?" he said, gesturing around him, meaning the hospital.

"I hadn't slept in over 2 days, and I passed out." she told him. Luke seemed to be processing what she had just said. _She passed out because she hadn't gotten any sleep? I am such and idiot! I should have just gone over to help!_

"I'm sorry I didn't help with Jake, I should have. If I had, then you wouldn't have been up all night taking care of him and--" Luke started to ramble but was interrupted my Lorelai.

"It's not your fault." she said.

"Of course it is! If I wasn't being so stupid and would have just seen that you needed my help with him--"

"Luke." she said. He stopped and looked at her. "It wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself because I just couldn't fall asleep. I was up both nights because I just couldn't get my thoughts straight. It had nothing to do with you not being there for Jake." she reassured him.

"Thoughts about what?" he asked. Lorelai hesitated. Should she tell him or should she deny that she still loved him? "Lorelai." he said pleadingly.

"Thoughts about you. And me. And us." she answered.

"Us?" he asked. Was she really considering it? Was she considering that maybe there was still a relationship to salvage.

"Luke, you were right. I can't do it alone. I do need someone, but I just didn't want to admit it. Like I said on those stairs the night I told you I was pregnant, I can't always be super woman, but it doesn't mean I don't want to be. I just can't let go Luke. I need to be able to control my life, and when you're around, it's like common sense and planning and control go out the window, and are replaced by spontaneous love. I just thought I could put you in the back of my mind, lock my thoughts of you up, and throw away the key.

"But I forgot to throw away the key, and when you were talking to me and you told me that you were going to propose, the love just came flooding back in," Lorelai was now in tears, "and I realized that I can't just forget everything about you and me. I just can't. And it hurts to try. I realized that right before I passed out.

"I was in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee. Not just any cup, but the one you got me for my birthday. Remember that one? The one that you had made with pictures of you me, Jake and Rory on it. I was looking at it, and I realized that it was just a fight, just a fight, and that our family can get over it. Our little family can get over it Luke. I'm sorry." she apologized as one last single tear rolled down her face.

"Don't be. It's my fault for accusing you in the first place. I should be the one apologizing, not you." he said as he walked over to her and wiped the tear off her face.

"Luke?"

"What?"

"I love you." she said with a smile on her face. Luke reciprocated the smile and then kissed her. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes.

"I love you too."

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There, back together again, happy? Ok, now thatI got them back together, I think I deserve to be given some extra reviews. I mean, come on, you owe me! Ok, just kidding, I do this for fun, But i would really like a review from everyone. The sooner the reviews come, the sooner the next chapter is posted.


	25. Better Than Munchkin Land

Sad, sad, sad. So this could possibly be the last chapter of this story. I was reading it over though, and normally I would just tell you guys to use your imagination, but there is suck potential for more to be written! So at the end, tell me if you want me to continue. I might not continue for one or two months due to my homicidal schedule, but if you want, I will write more eventually. But first, read it and tell me if it's a good ending or not. And I didn't really add much to this chapter because it just seemed so horrible to change what I've had written for a while. So here it is, please read, don't kill, and tell me if you would like me to continue. Oh, and if you look at the title of this chapter, it might make sense at the end, so pay attention to that.

_Disclaimer: don't even get me started._

**Chapter 25: Better Than Munchkin Land**

"So where are we going?" Lorelai asked.

"Home. I've told you this already." Luke responded.

"Yes, but I've told YOU already that I'm hungry." she told him.

"Your point?" he asked.

"My point is that we should stop somewhere for food before we get home." she said.

"Well we're almost there. Only about five minutes until we get there." he told her. He was half annoyed with her whining and complaining, but the other half of him was getting amusement out of it.

"But I'm hungry!" she whined.

"I will make you something when we get home."

"But I'm hungry now Luke! Please? Can we please stop and get something to eat?" she begged.

"Fine."

"And coffee."

"No."

"But I'm not pregnant. Coffee is not bad anymore. Please Luke!" she pouted.

"fine." he gave in again. He didn't want her to remind him of that fact any more but it seemed that she had started to move on where he hadn't, but the truth was that she just didn't realize what she had said.

"Yes!" she cheered. Luke rolled his eyes as he pulled onto the side of the road next to Doose's.

"Run in and get some pop tarts or something." Luke said.

"Come with me Luke!" she said enthusiastically.

"You don't need me to go in with you." he told her.

"But I want you to!" she whined.

"Fine, but only if it'll shut you up." he said.

"Yay!" she cheered again. Ever since that day in the hospital three days previously, Lorelai and Luke had acted as if nothing had happened. It wasn't bad, or something that would lead to another fight, they just were so tired of fighting that they were able to let it go and move on with their lives.

Luke got out of the car and walked over to Lorelai who had also gotten out of the car. He walked over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You happy?" she asked.

"What?" Luke asked in confusing. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Are you happy Luke? With this whole thing? Are you sure you want to spend the rest of your life with me? Not that this means that you have to spend the rest of your life with me. But you know, are you happy that you chose to stay with me? Even through my little quirks and eating habits?" she rambled. Luke thought about it for not even a split second and then he just looked her in the eyes.

"I could never be happier." he said with a smile on his face. Maybe he should do it now. Maybe he shouldn't wait until they got home. Maybe he should just change their lives now.

"Good. Good." she said as she smiled back. Luke stopped and turned so that he was standing right in front of her. "Luke?" Lorelai asked questionably. What was he doing? He now had a serious face on. He took her hands in his and looked at him softly. Inside he was having an internal argument, it wasn't as amusing as Lorelai's internal arguments, but it was an internal argument no less.

"Will you marry me?" he asked. Lorelai's mouth dropped open. Did he just ask what she thought he had asked? She looked down quickly, trying to process all of her thoughts. She could feel the happiness floating around up there, along with the feeling of security and love. "Lorelai?" he asked. She looked up with a smile on her face.

"Yes." she said quietly. Tears streamed down her face.

"Yes?" he asked surprised. He thought she might have needed some more time to think about it considering what had happened in the past few days.

"Yes!" she screeched happily as she hugged him. Luke could see people looking at them both oddly, but he didn't care. She had said yes. Lorelai Gilmore had said yes to marrying him.

"Yes!" he exclaimed happily as he lifted her up and spun her around on the sidewalk. Luke had never really been one for public displays of any sort of abnormality, this type of behavior included, but right now he didn't care.

"I love you Luke." she whispered into his ear.

"I love you too." he whispered back.

"I love you more than coffee." she whispered. He stopped twirling her around and slowly pulled away from her arms.

"That much?" he asked.

"If I had to choose between a life time supply of coffee, and you, I would choose you." she said with a smile on her face.

"Good, 'cause I would too." he joked.

"Hey!" she said, lightly hitting his chest, knowing that Luke would choose eating his arm rather than drink coffee, so what he said wasn't very credible. Luke just chuckled and pulled her into his arms.

"You sure it's a yes?" he asked.

"More than sure." she said with a serious tone.

"Good, because I can't think of anything better that could happen to me." he said.

"I do." Lorelai smiled seductively.

"You do?" he asked, smiling and playing along.

"Yes I do."

"What is it?" he asked. She leaned in and whispered in his ear. Luke just smiled and pulled her into a kiss.

"Good idea huh?" she asked.

"Yes it is, but after dinner that's waiting for us at home and will only be good until 9 tonight when Rory brings Jake back home." he said.

"You made me dinner? How did you know I was going to say yes?" she asked.

"I didn't, I was planning on waiting until we got home to propose, but I couldn't wait." he said.

"Oh, that's so sweet!" Lorelai cooed.

"And there's coffee."

"You know me too well Mr. Danes." she told him. He just smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. "And maybe we could try out my plan while dinner is cooking, and then after we're done eating." she suggested.

"Sounds good. Even if the food does end up burnt." he concluded.

"It'll be worth it." she told him.

"Coffee induced sex always is." Luke chuckled with a smile as he leaned in and kissed her harder. He gently wrapped one of his arms around her back and the other around the back of her neck and pulled her in closer. Lorelai wrapped both arms around his neck. Her heart welcomed him, and his reciprocated every bit of love she had given.

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So the laws of life, do they exist at all? We all know they exist in fairy land, and with the munchkins, and even the evil clowns and killer penguins have to follow them, but what about real life? Do these laws exist in our lives? In Lorelai's and Luke's life? Lorelai had lost Luke over a stupid fight -1, found out she was pregnant +1, gotten Luke back after explaining the whole situation +1, lost the baby (we shall blame Michel for that) -1, lost Luke again (stupid damn hormones!) -1, gotten Luke back (yay! Go fainting! Oh wait, that's a bad thing) +1, and then had ended up with an even better future with him in the end +1.

The score had ended up being 4:3, good: bad. So maybe life isn't fair. But it does tend to be for the most part. And even when it didn't seem like there was any end to the suffering, or the sad depressing parts of their lives, there always was. There was always the sun coming out tomorrow. There was always the good that would follow the bad. Always the bad that would follow the good, and then, in the end, it was the good following the good.

The better followed by the best. The wonderful followed by the true love. The happy times followed by the happiest times. In the end, life was even more than expected, so no, the laws of life to not exist in reality, but the life itself exists more than anyone can imagine.

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**So what do you think? Good, bad, Goodishly Bad? So if you would like me to continue, please just review, even if it just says "continue". Oh, and I would like to thank my Awesome reviewers who have kept me going all this time! You really just make my day when I open my email in the morning, or after school, or after practice, and it just shows a little envelope with a number ranging from 3-21 on it. It really just makes my day! And thanks guys. You are really the best people to ever stumble upon a Ducky's story. And when (not if) you review, tell me if you noticed the reference to the evil clowns and killer penguins. That'll also make my day. Well, it's been great writing for you. **

**Sincerely, **

**Ducky (who will send said penguins after you if you don't review)**


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